A longstanding Newcastle charity which helps around 1,000 older people in the city’s West End every year is extending its advice service with the help of a four-figure grant from the Newcastle Building Society Community Fund at the Community Foundation.
Search Newcastle works to promote and protect the health, wealth and well-being of local older people, with a view to helping as many as possible to stay healthy, secure and actively involved in their communities.
Its free confidential advice service is available to anyone over 50 and their carers in the West End and covers a wide range of different topics, including financial matters, energy advice, benefits checks, wills and Blue Badge applications.
Services are delivered according to the need of each individual, with face-to-face appointments, telephone contact, drop-in surgeries and a home visiting service all available as required.
The £3,000 Newcastle Building Society grant has now enabled Search to bring a new member of staff onto the team, which will help the charity meet the rising local demand for its support.
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.
Founded more than 40 years ago, Search Newcastle has around 30 staff who are supported by a team of 70 volunteers.
Alongside its focus on Newcastle’s West End, the charity provides dementia advice and mental health support services right across the city.
Lai Yee Tsang, Lead Worker for the Advice and Information Service at Search Newcastle, says: “Our advice service is always busy, with many of the people that contact us facing multiple barriers to living independently, and our work focuses on finding the right kinds of information and advice that will improve their quality of life.
“The different ways of contact we offer reflect the need to provide help in a way that’s going to be most effective for each individual, and allow us to provide information and advice that will address their needs in ways that are appropriate to their particular situation.
“Bringing an extra advisor onto the team will mean we’re able to reach more people who need our help more quickly, which is especially important at the moment, and we’re very grateful to the Society for the support they’re providing.”
Phil Grand, managing director at Newcastle Strategic Solutions, part of the Newcastle Building Society group, adds: “Search Newcastle has a long history of making a positive difference to its different local communities.
“With the need for its support and advice continuing to grow, we’re very pleased to be able to support the charity’s excellent work and to be helping more older people in our home city live better, healthier and more fulfilling lives.”
Since its launch in 2016, Newcastle Building Society’s Community Fund at the Community Foundation has also 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.