Can you help the elderly this winter?
Devon Community Foundation is appealing for donations to help ensure people in our communities stay warm and well this winter.
The Surviving Winter appeal was the brainchild of someone who received their Winter Fuel Payment, realised they didn't need it and wanted to help someone who did.
Since then many people have shared their Winter Fuel Payment to help those less fortunate but also lots of others have joined in to donate funds to help older and vulnerable residents across Devon.
Cold causes serious health problems including heart attacks and strokes, with around 600 people dying unnecessarily from the cold each year across Devon.
Devon Community Foundation say it is unacceptable for any of neighbours to suffer throughout the winter due to high energy prices, lack of access to hot food and poor energy efficiency.
And that’s not all, for every additional winter death, there are an estimated eight admissions to hospital, 32 attendances at outpatient care and 30 social service calls. That’s 4,800 hospital admissions, 19,200 outpatients and 18,000 social service calls in Devon each year, extra demands on our stretched medical services. Many of these can be avoided simply by eating hot food and keeping warm.
Martha Wilkinson, Devon Community Foundation CEO said: “It’s a tragic but hidden story. Can you imagine the outcry if 600 older people died in a single incident. How outraged we would all be and yet it happens every year on our doorsteps?
“Across Devon we have greater than average number of people aged over 65 years, many living in more remote and rural areas with solid walled homes and some in mobile homes which are very difficult to insulate well.
“We are especially asking people who feel they can manage to forego all or part of their winter fuel payments to donate it to help save lives this winter but, of course, we want everyone to show they care and give what they can.
“We know cash can be tight in the run up to Christmas but how would you feel if your mum or dad was choosing between eating and heating?
“Every penny you donate will go towards helping local people in your area this winter, and we have found that the older generation are very brave and proud, they find it hard to ask for help.”
This year, Devon Community Foundation is again working with CAB to get the money exactly where it is needed most.
Last year staff at Newton Abbot’s Citizens Advice Bureau were able to help an elderly woman who visited the bureau when she was unable to pay her bills.
The woman, who does not want to be named, lived on her own and had very little support. The CAB adviser completed a benefits check and found that she was not getting Pension Credit and other benefits which she was entitled to. This meant she was trying to live on an income which was well below what the government recognises someone in her circumstances needed to live on. She was also given a Surviving Winter cheque for £125.
Ken Pickering, manager of the Newton Abbot bureau, said: "She was so overwhelmed by the help she had received she began to cry and it took her quite a time to compose herself. The grant meant she could go home, put the heating on and have a proper meal without worrying for the first time in a long time."
Dennis Mardon, treasurer of Devon CAB and chair of Exeter CAB, said: "We were very impressed by the amount of people who gave up their winter fuel payment to help others in real need.
“Once again we are appealing to the generosity of the residents of Devon – this small gesture makes a big difference to the lives of people who are struggling to heat their own homes."
Donations to Devon can be made online at www.justgiving.com/DCFSurvivingWinter14/ or by cheque made out to Devon Community Foundation with a giftaid form to: Surviving Winter, Devon Community Foundation, The Factory, Leat Street, Tiverton, EX16 5LL.
