Help older people through the cold, lonely winter months.
Donate now – your gift will be doubled by our match funding partnerWe hear plea after plea for help to pay for essentials like warm clothing, heating bills and repairs to draughty homes and broken boilers. Many of the older people we support have no-one else to turn to and face a very bleak winter.
Together we can make sure older people are not left to struggle alone, cold, in their homes.
Frank is 72 and told us how the house used to be full of life, but now it’s just him and his hamster. Despite working all his life as a lorry driver Frank now struggles to make ends meet.
“It was always a choice between eat or top up the gas and electric. Some days I only had a tin of soup. I had no lights, no electricity, no nothing. I would have a cold wash in the sink downstairs. I had no electric to work the stair lift so most days…I would lay on the couch or even the floor with a blanket wrapped round me…It was so cold. One really bad night I had to press my emergency button to call for an ambulance. I was in hospital for a couple of days before I could return home.”
Thanks to our supporters we were able to award Frank a £400 grant for his gas and electric bills.
“The house is warm, I’ve got hot water, I can go upstairs and sleep in my bed. I have an extra bit of money to buy proper food. I love making my own stews. You couldn’t believe the difference this grant has made. You literally saved my life. Thank you.”
Shockingly, two million pensioners in the UK live in poverty(1) and, earlier this year, it was reported that almost three million elderly people turn off their heating as they cannot afford to pay their energy bills(2).
Keeping warm is imperative for vulnerable older people. Colder temperatures increase the risks of heart attacks, strokes, flu, pneumonia and in extreme cases hypothermia.
People like Frank have very simple wishes to be safe, warm and have food this winter.
Never has our help – and yours – been more critical.
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Names and photos have been changed to protect identities.
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Friends of the Elderly, registered charity in England and Wales (no 226064); registered company in England and Wales (no 133850).
Registered office 40-42 Ebury Street, London SW1W 0LZ. A company limited by guarantee.
