Hi im Louise and I am taking part in the Great North Run this year in support of a brilliant local charity, Age UK Darlington.
I have been fundraising offline too, if you see me please sponsor me.
What am I fundraising for? Age UK Darlington's befriending project is run by volunteers who help alleviate social isolation and depression amongst older people living on their own and they aim to build confidence and improve peoples self-esteem so they can live more healthily independently.
For many of the people contact with one of these volunteers is the only personal social contact they have all week. For example one lady who until they used this service hadn’t left her home in three years! Isolation amongst the older population is a common problem and often results in them becoming depressed, often to the extent of requiring treatment from their doctor for the condition or even hospital admission if the depression becomes severe.
My donations will go towards supporting this Befriending project and will go toward the costs of their volunteers for things like telephone calls and transport.
Older people are often forgotten but remember we will all grow old one day and if we ever find ourselves in such a situation we will be thankful that services such as Age UK Darlington's exist.
