A commission into loneliness

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on December 30, 2016 at 0:16

Good for you. Here's one place to make a start.

(We tried to get a project going years back, but there didn't seem to be the will to make it happen).

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on December 30, 2016 at 0:53

You can join GoodGym. We are a running group. As well as running to do various voluntary tasks in the community we also pair our members with isolated older people. You would run to the person once a week. They reciprocate by providing you with motivation to run. Www.goodgym.org

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Permalink Reply by tulips on December 30, 2016 at 10:14

Please think about becoming a volunteer for the The Cinnamon Trust. It's a great charity which helps elderly people with pets. If you become a volunteer, when there is an elderly person near you who needs someone to walk their dog or help with a pet, you will be contacted by the Cinnamon Trust to ask if you can help. It's all about building up a safe network of volunteers to help elderly people with pets.

You can be very specific on the volunteer form on what type of tasks or animals you would or would not be able to help with e.g. dog walking or looking after a dog or cat while owner in hospital or taking a cat to vet. Please tell your friends as they need more volunteers nationally. It's all about giving the elderly peace of mind so that they can get local help for their pet if needed - a pet is often their sole companion so it's important for them to be able to have a cat or dog and to be able to get help when needed so they don't worry e.g. dog walking. Even if you can spare half an hour a week, you will make a difference. Here is a volunteer registration form

For people who don't have time to volunteer, please consider becoming member of the charity for £10 a year. You will receive a lovely newsletter and heartwarming stories and photos, showing what a difference a Cinnamon Trust volunteer can make to an elderly person's life.

If you know an elderly person who needs help with a pet, tell them to get in touch with the Cinnamon Trust. Or maybe an elderly person is worried about what will happen to their pet when they are no longer here or perhaps go into a residential care home  - if an elderly person registers with them as a member for £5 a year, they can ensure long term care for their pet as The Cinnamon Trust arranges foster care (they also need more foster carers for lovely dogs and cats needing homes).

There are also organisations like Silver Line who need more volunteers for making a weekly 30 minute telephone call chat to an elderly person who is lonely.

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Permalink Reply by Alice B on December 30, 2016 at 17:50

Thanks for the link - it looks good but doesn't appear there is anyone in need in the local area. I actually really want a dog but can't (not in during the day) so this would have been perfect

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Permalink Reply by tulips on December 30, 2016 at 18:24

Don't worry about the current need in the local area as the info is not always up to date anyway - it's still worth applying to be a volunteer now as it takes a bit of time for applications to be processed. It's much better to be registered as a volunteer so that you are already a registered volunteer when a need arises locally. The idea is to have as many people as possible as registered volunteers so that there is a pool of volunteers to ask for help, as not everyone is always available at the time a need arises (as you can say no to requests for help if you are busy, there is no pressure). The Cinnamon Trust have recently appealed for people to decide to register as Cinnamon Trust volunteers for their New Year's resolution.

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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on January 2, 2017 at 17:10

How about training to be a Samaritan? You would quite literally be a life saver. They are always looking for volunteers.

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