GLASWEGIANS will be urged to help tackle chronic loneliness by visiting neighbours or taking part in phone call schemes to support those who are isolated or have lost a loved one.
The move comes after a UK-wide charity won £2.7m in lottery funding to launch a collaborative community-wide project to "mobilise kindness".
The Campaign to End Loneliness will be based in four locations - Glasgow, Northern Ireland, North Wales and Cambridgeshire, and aims to seek local solutions to the growing problem of loneliness amongst older people.
Research has suggested loneliness could be as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and the campaign says it can increase the likelihood of early death as well as the risk of dementia, high blood pressure and depression.
Laura Alcock-Ferguson, Director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, said: “We are delighted to receive this funding from the Big Lottery Fund. Over the next four years we will be expanding our work to inspire thousands of people to take action in their neighbourhoods, workplaces, businesses and high streets. There are more than one million older people suffering chronic loneliness in the UK, but - by making it our business to help just one of those million - we can all make a big difference.”
Big Lottery Fund Chief Executive Dawn Austwick, said: “Loneliness is an issue that touches us all, so there’s a real opportunity for this valuable project to bring communities together up and down the country to address it head on. Through putting the power in the hands of those most affected by isolation, we can develop local solutions that make a real difference to people’s lives.”
The campaign initially sought £4m in funding and is hoping to approach Glasgow and national businesses and charitable foundations to make up the remaining £1.3m needed or the project.
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