Age UK Lancashire launches Gift of Kindness appeal

A local charity is calling on everyone, from individuals, community groups and businesses, to join their Christmas appeal and give a Gift of Kindness to a lonely older person in Lancashire.

Age UK Lancashire, which provides vital services to older people and their families, has launched a festive campaign to not only provide some Christmas joy to local older people, some of whom live alone and have no friends or family, but also to raise vital funds for their Crisis Fund, which is used to support older people most in need with household items and urgent support.

Teri Stephenson, CEO at Age UK Lancashire, said: “We are really excited to launch this campaign and hope people get behind it and support. Throughout the year we come across many older people that need serious help. We’ve had experiences where we have discovered a person living with a black mouldy mattress and no carpets, living in unsafe and poor conditions. 

"Many of these people slip through the net for one reason or another, so our Crisis Fund can help us get essentials to enable them to live a better quality of life. This not only has a positive effect on them mentally and physically, but can also help avoid hospital admissions, at a time when the NHS is under severe pressure”.

The Gift of Kindness Appeal is part of The Big Give, which means that any donation received is doubled, thanks to the generosity of our pledgers through The Big Give.

You can support the appeal in two different ways. The first way is to donate online during the giving week, which starts on Tuesday 29th November and runs to Tuesday 6th December.  Donations made during the week are doubled, meaning if an individual donates £10, Age UK Lancashire will receive £20.

Teri Stephenson added: “We know it’s a really tough time financially for most people currently so we are just asking people to give what they can. Having the donation doubled hopefully will encourage people to choose this appeal, knowing their donation goes further."

The second way in which people can get involved is to make up a gift box, no bigger than a shoe box, which Age UK Lancashire will give to a lonely older person in December. The charity supports many older people that live alone and have no family or friends nearby. Some even go weeks without being able to get out or even talk to anyone. 

Teri Stephenson said: “Donating a gift box is a cheap and simple way of spreading some festive cheer and making an older person’s Christmas.  Our website has a full list of suggested items, such as puzzle books, hats, thermal mugs and other useful items.  We hope this could be an activity for individuals, community groups, schools and businesses to get involved in."

There are drop off points located throughout Lancashire and full details on what your box could include are listed on the charity’s website: www.ageuklancs.org.uk. There is also a special printable gift tag you can download and attach to your box. All the boxes will be checked before being distributed.

To support the Crisis Fund, each drop off point will also have a QR code to scan to allow people to make a minimum donation of £5, which again will be doubled. 

Teri Stephenson says: “The main aim of this appeal is to raise vital funds for our Crisis Fund, as there will be many older people in serious need of our help this winter.  We hope by offering people the chance to give a gift box as well as donating will encourage more people to get involved.  If people prefer just to donate online during the donation week, then that will also be wonderful and be of huge benefit to our appeal”.

The donations week starts on Tuesday 29th November and runs until Tuesday 6th December.  During this week the online giving page will be open for donations and the drop off points for gift boxes will also be open. Full details on the campaign and how to get involved are at www.ageuklancs.org.uk or you can contact the team at Age UK Lancashire by emailing [email protected]

Give a Gift of Kindness this Christmas…