Guests and volunteers of charity Contact the Elderly recently enjoyed the recent Kippen Street Fayre.
Guest Bunty, 94, joined volunteer Ali Thom who was dressed as a dog in her role as organiser of the event’s dog show. Bunty’s volunteer driver Richard Boyd had arranged wheelchairs for visitors to the fayre.
More than £100 was raised for Contact the Elderly’s free monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties by Kush the dog who is owned by volunteer Laura Gavigan and Kevan Leith.
Morna O’ May, who is Head of Scotland at Contact the Elderly and lives in Kippen said:
“It was such a super day and so nice to see so many people from our Kippen groups getting involved in this fantastic community event.”
Contact the Elderly has two groups in Kippen, as well as two groups in Stirlingshire and one in Stirling allowing around 15 older people who live alone the chance to enjoy a vital lifeline of friendship.
There are currently spaces in one of the Kippen groups for more older guests. To become a guest or volunteer of Contact the Elderly groups in the area, contact Lorna Dunbar on lorna.dunbar@contact-the-elderly.org.uk or 01738 730249. Contact the Elderly can email or post a leaflet if someone would like to share it with an older person who would benefit.
Contact the Elderly
For further media information, please contact Suzanne Mackie on 0774385948 or Suzanne@hummingbird-comms.com.
Contact the Elderly is the winner of The Older People’s Project Award at The Herald Society Awards 2016 and The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award 2012
Having recently celebrated its Golden Jubilee, Contact the Elderly is the only national charity, which since inception, has focussed solely on relieving the acute loneliness and isolation of older people who live alone, without family, friends or other support networks nearby
The Contact the Elderly model is based on a simple yet very effective model: free, monthly tea parties for small groups of older people and volunteers within their community – which bring all ages together, develop fulfilling friendships and support networks, and give everyone something to look forward to
Contact the Elderly currently has over 750 groups throughout England, Scotland and Wales, providing a regular, consistent and vital friendship link every month to over 6,000 older people
There are currently over 10,000 volunteers supporting the groups: volunteer drivers collect the older guests from their homes and accompany them to tea parties, while volunteer hosts hold the tea parties in their homes
As part of its continuing Power of Contact campaign to recruit more volunteers, Contact the Elderly aims by 2020 to double the number of isolated older people it supports
The Wee Vine 