We save the day on Christmas Day.

We are on call seven days a week, so when we received a request to help a 99 year old lady called Betty, we had to find a way to give her the Christmas she deserved.

We were hugely stretched in December with our programmes and support for older people, especially with the many difficulties and issues arising from the cost of living crisis; which is hitting the older community especially hard, so any help and support you could give would be welcome.

An urgent request

During the frantic Christmas period we received an urgent request from Janice, one of our Balanced Lives participants in Swansea. She was concerned about a 99 year old lady called Betty who was going to be alone over Christmas. Betty has family in London and the US, but they were all due to be abroad for the holiday period, so Betty was faced with spending Christmas alone, cooking for herself. It was a very worrying prospect for both Betty and Janice.

Friends and neighbours were away too, but Betty, who values her independence, was unable to cook properly for herself through disability. We worked around the clock to find somebody who could help us provide urgent assistance.

Heavy demand for services

We work tirelessly to help older people, despite having limited resources. In fact, we are inundated with requests from the older community. We try to help as many people as possible, but it is a constant struggle to meet the huge demand for our services, so we value donations, help and volunteers very highly.

Christmas solution found

After much searching, we finally found a workable solution. We managed to contact the Salvation Army, who, with no hesitation agreed to work with us to save the day, save Christmas Day in fact, for Betty.

The Salvation Army volunteered to deliver Christmas dinner to Betty at 1pm on Christmas Day with our help. Sometimes, it’s all about caring and teamwork. This was a wonderful example of working in partnership. Our thanks go to Swansea Citadel Salvation Army.

Balanced Lives Programmes

For details of all our Balanced Lives programmes and events:

• Getting Back Out There Events
• Balanced Lives Warm Hubs