"That's a great feeling!"

Please note: this post is 80 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

I first got involved with South London Cares back in June 2016. I'd researched various local charities online, but had struggled to find one that was compatible with my hectic diary – typically they were only seeking volunteers during my office working hours. But finally, after sharing my frustration with a friend, she recommended I check out South London Cares. 

I was excited to hear about what South London Cares were doing, particularly as I have always appreciated the company of my seniors - they have great stories to tell! After my volunteer induction, I decided that their Love Your Neighbour programme would be the best fit for me as it allowed a lot of flexibility around my schedule and I was keen to build a one-on-one relationship with an older neighbour.

I was soon matched with Peggy in Clapham who was 98 at the time! Although she did have family locally it was nice for her to have other visitors, as she was unable to get out of the house - so I started visiting every week.

I heard some wonderful stories: one of my favourites being that she gave birth to one of her sons during The Blitz in a central London hospital! When I asked if she was scared, or if she had been worried during the war, she just shrugged and said she got on with it like everyone else, and it was a great bonding time for her generation. I had huge admiration for her. She was also curious to learn about my life and enjoyed hearing examples of how the modern world was evolving, although I couldn’t ever convince her of the benefits of Uber or Airbnb.

From my friendship with Peggy, I was able to see what great work South London Cares do: from their different fundraising activities, to the multitude of social clubs they host every month, and even accompanying me to Peggy’s funeral the following year and the support given to me when she passed. I started to take a more active role in fundraising at my work, which began with bake sales and has since evolved into our CSR committee organising a Pub Quiz, which took place last week.

The enthusiasm from my colleagues at Salt enabled us to secure some excellent raffle prizes, host a fantastic quiz, and raise £840 for SLC. I know this money will make a difference towards tackling the loneliness my older neighbours in South London face and that’s a great feeling - and further encouragement for me to do more!

Myself and a few of my colleagues will also be attending a Technology Workshop Social Club next month where we’ll be helping some of our older London neighbours to use their various devices – I am hoping we will do a good job considering our focus at Salt is to recruit professionals in Digital Transformation!

In the meantime, I will continue to see my new LYN match Joan every week, who I was introduced to in February this year. She lives just around the corner from me in Streatham and we were expertly matched by South London Cares based on our several shared interests. I love supporting SLC and will continue to do. To me it doesn’t feel like volunteering – it feels like building great friendships.

If Lauren has inspired you to host a fundraising event with your colleagues, drop Charlie an email on [email protected]