1 Million Minutes
Published: 20/03/2019
It only takes 1 minute to make someone smile and make their day. Yet there are still over 1 million elderly people who are lonely and have feelings of isolation.
Unfortunately Christmas and the New Year is one of the loneliest times for older people. That’s why Good Morning Britain is launching a 1 Million Minutes campaign to ask you to pledge just 30 minutes of your time to help an older person.
They have teamed up with The Silver Line, Royal Voluntary Service, Age UK and Campaign to End Loneliness to offer you specific volunteering opportunities or you can just pledge to help an elderly neighbour, friend or relative before Christmas.
So what do you need to do?
Pledge as much time as you can!
Once you have decided how much time you can give, we’ve given you some options of how you can complete your pledge.
- Pledge to volunteer with The Silver Line or Age UK’s telephone befriending service to befriend and speak to one older person on the phone weekly
- In the run up to Christmas and beyond, pledge to make a regular phone call or visit to an older friend or family member.
- Over the Christmas period, can you spend some time teaching an older friend or family member how to use a digital tool like Skype or FaceTime.
- In the run up to Christmas, pledge to volunteer locally with a local charity in your area, at a social activity such as a lunch club or coffee morning
- Pledge to push a trolley around a hospital ward and provide vital companionship and refreshments to older patients through the Royal Voluntary Service
- Pop in and see an older neighbour or friend and offer to run some Christmas errands.
- Call and elderly friend or neighbour you haven’t spoken to for a few months.
Images: Age UK & Royal Voluntary Service
