Marmalade - Caron Cares

this image shows the logo for the marmalade trust which strangely enough is an orange cut in half!

Loneliness is bad for your health – Fact.

I have just stumbled across the wonderful work of Amy Perrin who is an occupational therapist. She started working to combat loneliness for elderly people on Christmas Day.

The History of Marmalade.

Amy had worked as a health professional and volunteered for over 20 years and had become well aware of how tough social isolation and loneliness can be.

In 2013, 3 of the older people she volunteered with, told her they were going to be spending Christmas day alone. Amy attempted to find them somewhere to go and became aware of the great shortage of Christmas day events running in Bristol, so decided to take them out herself.

Word soon spread…

Amy started getting approached by GP’s, health professionals and even a local bank clerk, all asking if there was a space for someone they knew who was going to be alone at Christmas.

So 3 became 18!

After a lovely Christmas day event, the thank you cards began to flood in…with words such as, “this was the first time in 16 years I was not alone on Christmas day” Amy realised the importance of what had been achieved and Marmalade Trust was born.

The more you ask, the more you get…

In 2014, Marmalade recruited more volunteers; fundraised a bit harder and found even more people due to be on their own. With the amazing support of their volunteers, they were able to take out 40 guests on Christmas day.

It just keeps getting bigger and better…

In 2015, they decided it was time to expand further into their community, and held a Christmas day lunch in three locations across the city. With the support of guests and volunteers in each local area they gave companionship to 60 people.

Trust in Marmalade

No one should spend Christmas day alone if they don’t want to
If you’re on your own on Christmas day, you are likely to be experiencing loneliness the rest of the year – They work closely with local organisations, to provide their guests with information about social activities happening throughout the year
Marmalade host their lunches at local pubs and restaurants. That way their guests say feel part of the community.
Marmalade fundraise, so that all their guests are invited as friends
They do not exclude people by age. Last year they were are able to extend the invite to several people with disabilities who would also have been on their own.
Our volunteers are everything to us. They drive the guests; raise the money; fill the hampers and share the excitement with our guests. We could not do it without them