Pensioners' charity helpline braced for busy Christmas period
More than a million pensioners admit feeling lonely over the Christmas period, due to living alone or having no one to talk to
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Silver Line helpline receives an average of 10,000 calls every week from vulnerable and isolated older people - a number which increases over the Christmas period.
Since it started operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week in 2013, it has received more than 1.6 million calls.
Last Christmas The Silver Line was inundated with calls from vulnerable and isolated older people. Due to a lack of funding, it struggled to answer more than 5,000.
To raise awareness of the helpline's plight, content and media agency 72Point has today launched the 'Start a Conversation' campaign to help The Silver Line to answer every single call this year.
They have created a video to encourage people to connect with others and start a conversation before it's too late.
Nina Gopal, Director of Fundraising at The Silver Line, said: “We’re a relatively new organisation and entirely charity funded. Every £5 enables us to answer a call from a vulnerable and isolated older person who needs to hear a friendly voice.
“This video shows the difference a phone call can make. The Silver Line is there when all other services have closed down for Christmas.”
Sixty-eight per cent of callers contact The Silver Line because they feel lonely or isolated, with 90 per cent living alone. More than half have no-one else to speak to.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments