The work of an independent charity that supports older people across Teesside has received a four-figure boost from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation.
Age UK Teesside provides a wide range of services for people over the age of 50 who live across Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland and Hartlepool which are designed to enable older people to improve their lifestyle.
The Middlesbrough-headquartered organisation works to tackle social isolation by providing opportunities to broaden social networks, meet new people and try new activities, while it also promotes healthy living and campaigns on a range of issues that are of interest to older people.
Its welfare and benefit advisers also help service users manage a range of different financial issues, with the team helping local older people to access more than £1m in unclaimed benefits to which they’re entitled every year.
Age UK Teesside has a 25-strong team delivering its services, which is backed by more than 200 local volunteers.
It is using the £3,000 Society grant to help meet the rising cost of providing support and advice across the region in the face of the current cost of living crisis, and to ensure that older people are able to get to locations where they can receive this help face-to-face.
The funding is being provided through the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, which offers grants to charities and community groups located in or around the communities served by the Society’s branch network.
Age UK Teesside’s services cost around £500,000 every year to deliver, with money raised through fundraising activities, grant applications and its online shop.
Chief executive Anne Sykes says: “Our services are designed around the things that older people tell us they want and need, and in a part of the North East where there are many areas with high deprivation levels, they’ve never been more crucial than they are today.
“Addressing financial challenges is always a key part of our work, especially in situations where one half of a married couple who’d always looked after the money side of things has passed away and their spouse doesn’t have the full picture about their financial situation.
“One of the most important things for us is enabling people to get to places where we can help them in person, which not only is the most efficient way of doing so, but also enables us to more easily identify any other issues that they might be facing, so we can put holistic solutions in place which try to address them all.
“After all the restrictions we’ve had in the last two years, getting people out of their homes is often a challenge, but we have a brilliant team of volunteers that can help get our service users out and about, which also helps to tackle issues with social isolation at the same time.
“Newcastle Building Society has been a long-term supporter of the charity and we’re really grateful that they’re continuing to contribute so much to what we do.
“Receiving such a substantial lump sum like this takes away some of the worry about funding our work and gives us confidence that we can cover the costs of the services we provide.”
Lynne Moore, manager at Newcastle Building Society’s High Street branch in Stokesley, adds: “Age UK Teesside’s support, advice and care enables hundreds of older people across the area to live better, healthier and happier lives.
“Its commitment to our community is unrivalled and we’re very pleased to be strengthening our relationship with the team still further.”
Since its launch in 2016, Newcastle Building Society’s Community Fund at the Community Foundation has contributed over £2.1m in grants and partnerships to a wide variety of charities and projects across the region, including the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and the Prince’s Trust.
The grants are so far estimated to have had a positive impact on more than 151,000 people.