This campaign has now closed

Our Befriending Service offers a vital lifeline to many older people who would otherwise feel lonely & isolated, through a regular friendly telephone call. The service is free & the calls are made by our dedicated volunteers. We want to develop the service to reach more lonely older people.

100%
Categories

Beneficiaries

Situation

There are estimated to be about 38,000 people aged 65 and over in Norfolk who are lonely (that’s 1 in 5), with a quarter of those surveyed saying they never leave their home. Sadly this is the reality for so many older people, who have been coping with loneliness year after year and describe loneliness as ‘living through their memories.’ Isolation can also lead onto other issues, with lonely people more likely to experience poor physical or mental health or be vulnerable to exploitation.

Solution

Some older people can go for a week without speaking to anyone. Our regular calls help alleviate the feelings related to isolation & contribute in maintaining mental health and wellbeing. Norfolk is a large rural county & a telephone-based service allows us to optimise the number of people we contact & volunteers are community-based as they can make the calls from home. This means our volunteers represent a wide cross-section of society & this helps in matching service users to volunteers.

  • “”
    -
  • “”
    -
  • “”
    -
  • “”
    -
  • “”
    -
  • “”
    -
100%
Categories

Beneficiaries