Help Age Concern Southend Survive Corvid-19! Crowdfunder launched 06/04/20

The global COVID-19 pandemic has created a very uncertain landscape which is going to make it very challenging for small charities like us to survive.

Without income from our fundraising events and through our usual services like day care, community clubs, keep fit classes and minibus hire we are in a precarious situation and yet, more than ever, older people in our community need our support.

This pandemic has left many older people alone in their homes, with limited ability to get shopping, prescriptions or even to talk to other people. As such we are increasing our offering of telephone befriending to ensure that no-one feels alone whilst they are following government regulations and isolating. We are also on hand to answer any calls between 10am and 2pm Monday to Friday to offer support and to signpost to other organisations that may be able to help deal with anything older people (and their friends and family) might need.

None of this comes without a cost. Rent, insurance and utility bills still need paying to keep us in the black and, even though we have furloughed most of our team and cut costs where we can, we still have wages that need paying to enable us to offer support to our community when it is most needed. We currently have enough funds to see us through to May but with no sign of the lock down ending soon and a lost income of around £50,000 already we are not sure who long our charity will survive without external support.

We launched a crowdfunder on the 6th of April to help us raise funds so we can survive this crisis. Absolutely every penny donated will go towards keeping our charity going over the coming months and helping us to provide much needed services to our community. You can donate by going to https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-acsos-survive-corvid19 or by getting in touch with us on 01702 345373 or email enquiry@acsos.co.uk.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support for our charity.

Claire Slack

CEO