Thank you! I am delighted to be able to - ALONE

NEWS AND UPDATES              SEPT 2021

Thank you!
I am delighted to be able to
personally thank you for all
the support you have given
us especially over the last 20
months. Despite many setbacks,
we delivered the National             ALONE has a long history of
Support and Referral Line which       volunteering and we could do
proved a lifeline for thousands       little without the help of more
during the pandemic - already         than 3,000 volunteers who
this year, we have received           give generously of their time
14,632 calls from, and we made        to support us in any way they
132,522 calls to older people.        can. We are currently short of
                                      volunteers in some parts of the
We are committed to maintaining       country, if you have an hour to
the line as a permanent feature       spare each week please read
as it often serves as a gateway       the article inside for further
to our integrated services and is     information.
available to every person across      We are overwhelmed with
the country. We continue to           the support we received from
lobby for the rights of older         corporates, community groups
people and you can read in this       and individuals alike who helped
edition about our call for an         us raise more than €4.5 million
increase in state pensions that, if   last year, thank you.
implemented, would enable older
people to live in comfort and         Seán Moynihan
with dignity.                         Chief Executive

Campaign
for Change
A   LONE has put forward         Seán Moynihan, ALONE and Liz Roche,
a series of asks in their          Vodafone at the launch of the Gift of
Submission to the Department                        Connection Appeal
of Social Protection in
advance of this year’s           Vodafone
Budget, highlighting income      The Gift of Connection
gaps faced by older people       During the height of the
and calling for a number of
                                 pandemic Vodafone donated
factors to be considered by
the Department in order to       smartphones and phone credit
protect Ireland’s growing        to ALONE for use by older
ageing population.               people. ALONE continues to
The need for change to           distribute the phones to older
the current state pension        people across the country;
is one area that ALONE is        these phones help them to
highlighting, recent research    contact essential support
by Social Justice Ireland        services as well as providing
(Poverty Focus, 2021)
                                 them with an important social
shows that an income of
€286.48 is needed to avoid       link to their friends and family.
poverty in 2021. The current     In addition to the phones,
Contributory State Pension       Vodafone has introduced
is €248.30 and the Non-          changes to improve the in-store
Contributory State Pension       experience including free Friday
is €237; therefore, an older     tech appointments for older
person on the Contributory       customers, changes to in-store
State Pension is €38.18 below    designs, including additional
the poverty line. To combat
                                 seating, and the introduction of
this ALONE are calling for the
State Pension to be increased    printed guides for customers so
by €10.50 in Budget 2022 and     that they can stay informed and
over successive years.           connected.

FUNDRAISING
Unfortunately, we cannot mention                Eileen Finnucane who lost her partner
everyone who has raised funds for                     Seamus to Covid-19 and his ICU
us but we are overwhelmed by the                   consultant Dr. Patrick Seigne at the
commitment shown by volunteers,                  launch of the ICU4U Memorial Event.
community groups, individuals and
corporates for the work of ALONE.
The support we received from our
donors during the height of the
Covid-19 Pandemic assisted us to
help more than 15,000 older people
who came to us for help, this was
a staggering 200 per cent increase
on the 5,000 people we worked
with in 2019.
                                               ICU4U Memorial Charity Cycle
Glenveagh Homes                                For the second year running, ALONE
With a shared mission of community,            was one of 4 beneficiaries of this
sustainability and inclusion we are            event. The cycle took place in
delighted to be part of the Glenveagh          September and was led by frontline
CSR Support Programme. This year               medical staff from the Republic and
Glenveagh launched its partnership             Northern Ireland who cycled to Dublin
with ALONE and the Jack & Jill                 from each of the six nationwide
Foundation.                                    University Hospitals in Cork, Belfast,
                                               Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford.
                                               The cyclists passed through as many
                                               community hospitals as possible
                                               en-route to the Memorial Gardens at
                                               Islandbridge in Dublin, where a brief
                                               commemoration ceremony was held
L/r Seán Moynihan, CEO, ALONE, Glenveagh
                                               (in line with public health restrictions)
CEO, Stephen Garvey and CEO of the
                                               and more than 7,000 white roses
Jack and Jill Foundation, Carmel Doyle,        were laid in memory of the victims
photographed in Newbridge, Kildare. One of     of Covid-19. To date this event has
the many locations which Glenveagh is set to   raised more than €100,000, with more
activate meaningful community initiatives.     still to come!

Twitter - We have had #TeaTime with Twitter where we shared the progress ALONE
has made in supporting older people already this year. Following this staff in Twitter
kindly developed a guide for older people about staying safe online.
LinkedIn chose to support one of our Health and Wellbeing Programmes for the
Global Day of Giving stage.
Google UK and Ireland were one of a number of corporate supporters who got
involved in our card writing initiative, the Team created cards and sent them with their
good wishes and support to older people across the country.

The best friendships
        work both ways.

ALONE’s Visitation Support & Befriending Service matches older
people who would like additional social contact with a volunteer
who would provide companionship through a weekly visit.
We are currently seeking volunteers who are prepared to
give some time every week to an older person in need of
companionship and are actively recruiting Visitation Support
and Befriending Volunteers in the following areas: Carlow, Clare,
Cork, Donegal, Kerry, Kildare, Mayo, Offaly, Limerick, Louth,
Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford areas.
If you would like to become a volunteer you can apply online:
             www.alone.ie/get-involved/volunteer/

   ALONE. Olympic House, Pleasants Street, Dublin, D08 H67X
       Tel: 0818 222 024 Email: Fundraising@alone.ie
                          www•alone•ie
                  Registered Charity Number 20020057