A community group in Belfast are launching a winter lunch club to help elderly people in the local area avoid isolation amid the cost of living crisis.
Ardmonagh Family and Community Group currently support 451 elderly service users throughout West Belfast who benefit from a daily telephone befriending service, with many having limited support networks or nobody to turn to.
Many of these service users have told the team at Ardmonagh they're worried about rising costs, with fears about not being able to access nutritional meals and struggling to heat their homes.
Read more: Husband and wife on how their Belfast business is 'more than just a wee shop'
Natasha Doyle and Fionnuala Lavery from the community group said they're trying to provide a warm place older people can go and socialise while enjoying a warm meal for a number of hours each day throughout the winter months.
They will be able to provide this support to around 25 older adults daily and will continue to provide this support beyond January if the demand is there.
"A lot of the older generation would have a lot of pride and don't want to admit they're struggling, but a lot of them are very vocal at the minute in spreading their concerns and worries about how they're going to get through the winter," Fionnuala told Belfast Live.
"It really is coming down to not making them chose between not using their electric or heating. It was important to us to make sure we're able to provide nutritious meals, something warm, homely, and filling for them.
"We have a domiciliary care agency that has access to a lot of older people and we see first hand how they're struggling. There was an incident recently where one of our service users had no heating over a weekend, and one of our team leaders went out to get it sorted for them."
Natasha added: "It's important as a community we think about our elderly family and neighbours, and what this coming winter may be like for them.
"The warm food will be provided by ourselves and we're also scheduling activities for people to get involved in on the day, whether it's some arts and crafts, bingo or someone in on the day playing a bit of music."
The team said their service users are really looking forward to the daily lunch club beginning in November.
"Any events we've ran in recent months have been really well-received by our service users, through the pandemic a lot of our social events were halted, but there's a real focus in helping to get them out of the house," Fionnuala added.
Ardmonagh are asking local businesses and organisations to help provide donations to keep the scheme going. This can be anything from providing one meal a week, donating ingredients that can be turned into hearty meals, or even providing a small financial contribution.
Fionnuala said: "It's a very real and live issue for a lot of families and businesses, and we're very mindful of that when asking local businesses for their support in the initiative.
"But I think as a community West Belfast has stood together before in trying to help people who need it, and we're hoping the scheme will act as a protective measure for some of the elderly service users we have. To get them out of the house, to know at least in that three hour window they don't have to chose between heating or eating.
"We're taking into consideration that businesses themselves are struggling at the minute too. At Ardmonagh, we have longstanding relationships with a lot of local businesses in the community who have helped us before, so we're hoping that will be well received by them."
The daily lunch club will run from 11am to 2pm every day, Monday to Friday, throughout the months of November, December and January at the community centre in Ardmonagh Gardens.
If you're a business owner who would like to donate to the scheme, or if you or a family member are over the age of 60 and would benefit from taking part, you can contact the team at 02890245943 or goodmorningwestbelfast@outlook.com.
READ NEXT:
- Belfast family's call for rehab and crisis centre after son's death
- West Belfast nursery school on supporting the community for 40 years
- NI mum on the struggle parents are facing due to Cost of living crisis
- NI Cost of Living help explained including how and when you will receive it
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
