Older care home residents are twice as likely to feel severely lonely as older people living in the community. We help residents feel visible through consistent, relationship-based befriending where they feel "meaningfully engaged" and have "something to look forward to every week".
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Beneficiaries
Impact areas
Too many older people in care homes have been forgotten, often with no regular visitors. Some have outlived loved ones. Others live with dementia or sensory loss that makes them feel more isolated. Care home staff work extraordinarily hard but their focus is rightly on physical and clinical care. Consistent one to one companionship from someone who visits every week because they want to is the difference between these older people feeling invisible, or feeling valued and meaningfully connected.
We pair residents with trained volunteers to visit regularly, build intergenerational and community links, and send handmade cards and gifts - small but meaningful reminders someone is thinking of them and that growing older shouldn't mean feeling alone. In 2025 we supported 2,351 residents in 176 care homes across Richmond, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and West Sussex. We also equip churches nationwide to connect with local care homes so more residents can benefit from this vital connection.
