Charity in urgent need of more volunteers

A charity which offers a lifeline of friendship to older people has issued an urgent call for volunteers as demands for its services in Glasgow hit a record high.
Just a chat and an afternoon out to see new friends makes a difference.Just a chat and an afternoon out to see new friends makes a difference.
Just a chat and an afternoon out to see new friends makes a difference.

Contact the Elderly, which supports people aged 75 and over and who live alone, currently has 50 people in the Glasgow area hoping to join its monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties.

To enable these people to attend parties, the charity needs to set up 10 new groups in the city, which require around 70 volunteer hosts, 35 volunteer drivers and a pool of reserve drivers, as well as a volunteer from each group to act as its coordinator.

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Janice Kerr, Central Scotland Development Officer at Contact the Elderly, said: “It is fantastic that so many older people are keen to make that all-important step out of the house and meet new people through our tea parties. To make that happen we desperately need more volunteers in the Glasgow area who can give a small amount of time to make an immeasurable difference to older people in their local communities who are at risk of social isolation.”

Contact the Elderly currently has 92 groups in Scotland, 10 of which are in Glasgow, meaning the addition of the new guests would double the charity’s presence in the city.

Jean is a guest of Contact the Elderly in Glasgow. She told The Extra: “Day to day, I don’t have as much contact with people as I used to when I was younger. The tea parties give me something to look forward to and I enjoy catching up on what the other older people and volunteers have been up to. It’s great to get out the house and have a good laugh on a Sunday afternoon.

“I hope Contact the Elderly can find more kind people in Glasgow so that others in my position no longer have to spend the afternoon in the house with nowhere to go and no-one to see.”

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Contact the Elderly’s tea parties are free and rely upon the dedication of the more than 1,000 volunteers in Scotland. For more information on volunteering in Glasgow please contact Janice on [email protected] or 01236 898613.

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