Senior Care and Wednesday Lunch Club

The Pitch

Problem statement

Our Senior Care project recognises the high degree of isolation that older people (age 65+) may experience. With many older people living away from their family, or having no family at all, this work is an absolute lifeline to our seniors – both men and women; tackling loneliness, enhancing quality of life, giving confidence, lifting people’s spirits and offering practical help as well. The needs of this group, (exacerbated enormously by the Covid 19 pandemic), continues to worsen as the present cost of living crisis tightens its grip, with more people attending on a regular basis, all of whom want to be part of the local community and feel connected and valued.

Solution

Senior Care brings those who are lonely together in a warm, friendly environment so they can spend time together. Funding will support our weekly Wednesday Lunch Club, that provides a hot three-course meal, followed by a variety of entertainment – crafting, bingo, etc. We also arrange occasional outings. Our befriending service, by phone or in person, for those who cannot get out offers support and advice when people are lonely or low, as does the help provided to deliver prescriptions/medication and food shopping. This outreach provides community for those who are isolated, lonely, overlooked; helps improve mental health; reduces loneliness & enables older people to look out for each other.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

All Souls Serve the City (ASSTC) exists to see everyone in London flourish in body and soul, with a particular focus on those who are isolated, overlooked or exploited. Its Senior Care project continues to be a much-loved and trusted local project, operating successfully in an area identified by Age UK as a loneliness hotspot. Throughout Covid 19, the project manager was an absolute lifeline to our Seniors, maintaining contact & supporting them in creative ways as she navigated her way through all the changing regulations. With attendance now back to its pre-Covid level, the project is once again flexing to accommodate the needs of its seven new members, five of whom are men.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

50 people

Who will benefit

Expected impact

Many elderly people in this area live alone and/or have no family of their own. In addition, many face financial or health struggles. Loneliness & isolation amongst the elderly can quickly lead to depression & undermine confidence. It compromises quality of life. Pressure on statutory services is growing. Local, grassroots charitable projects like ours have become vital to support the well-being of people aged 65+. Our experience here over many years supports this evidence. By offering a meaningful local community, Senior Care is welcoming the lonely on our doorsteps, and making our local area a more connected place to live. It is providing friendship to help combat loneliness, offering creative, enriching input to enhance quality of life; practical support to help Seniors remain independent for longer & supporting each person to uphold dignity, confidence and self-worth.

Track record

M, who has attended the lunch club for several years, recently said after one of the lunches that it was the best meal she had tasted in ages. She also went on to say, as she has before, that her visits to the Wednesday Lunch Club had saved her after she lost her husband. 'We are not friends here, we are a family'. She then went on to thank the project Manager, Sally, for all her hard work and said ‘We really are so grateful and lucky to have this to be a part of’. The daughter of L, a new attendee and gentleman with early dementia wrote 'I cannot thank you enough for the service you provide that brings a renewed joy to my Dad. It has brought him so much stability and he seems to love the food'

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