Burnham-On-Sea’s growing branch of Re-Engage, a charity that provides monthly tea-parties for isolated elderly people, is appealing for local help.
It runs four groups in Burnham and the surrounding villages – and they are calling out for more hosts and volunteer drivers.
In the Burnham-On-Sea area, the charity provides monthly Sunday events for more than 30 local residents who live alone.
They have a team of 20 volunteers who host the events or work as drivers to collect and deliver guests to those events.
Paula Protheroe, group organiser for the Burnham-On-Sea area, says the team now needs more hosts and drivers to enable them to reach out to more lonely people.
“We have rapidly expanded to running four groups, but there is a strong need for us to expand even further,” she told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“We can only do this by recruiting more hosts and more drivers. Volunteers get to give back to their community whilst enjoying hearing about our guests’ interesting lives and enjoying an afternoon tea.”
“We need to expand our operations to reach even more of the local elderly people who live alone and lack social contact: and we can only do that by recruiting more hosts and drivers.”
Hosts for these events need to be able to accommodate up to eight people and provide an afternoon tea (sandwiches, cake, and tea) or a cooked meal. They also need to be able to provide easy access to their home and a downstairs toilet.
Drivers, who will have to undergo a DRB check, will collect and deliver their guests to the hosts’ events.
“We know that there are many more lonely people in this area who would benefit from a monthly get-together, but we can only meet that need if we can recruit more hosts and drivers,” said Mrs Protheroe.
Anyone interested in hosting an event or becoming a volunteer driver can contact Paula Prothderoe by phone 01278 773839 or by email at paula.reengagevolunteer@gmail.com
