It is Loneliness Awareness Week (LAW) from 10th June – 16th June and AFC Fylde Community Foundation wanted to help raise awareness for the people in our community.
On the morning of Friday 7th June, our Loneliness Prevention Project Co-ordinator, Bernadette Kunna, had the pleasure of taking over Medlar-with-Wesham Church of England Primary School’s year four and year six classes.
Bernadette delivered a brief PowerPoint explaining the importance of LAW and then tasked them with designing some greeting cards to hand out amongst the elderly people in the community to let them know that people do care.
Bernadette said: “It was lovely seeing how involved the children got and all of the lovely messages they wrote for people they don’t even know – just for the purpose of brightening up someone else’s day.”
‘A random act of connection’ is the theme for this year’s LAW and that’s exactly what we have tried to achieve. We hope that by letting the children design their own unique cards and write their own thoughtful message in will have cheered up the recipient’s day and put a smile on their face.
The Foundation are also hosting a competition regarding LAW to win two free tickets to AFC Fylde’s friendly fixture versus Wigan Athletic on Saturday 20th July.
The way to enter is by showcasing your ‘random act of connection’ on social media and tagging the Foundation’s relevant social media account in the post.
The competition is open until 22:00 on Monday 17th June and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 18th June!
Bernadette also said: “It’s amazing that the Foundation will host competitions like this.
“It shows how much they value the community and how they want everyone to get involved and help make a difference.
“Even if it’s something as simple as carrying someone’s shopping to their car, that brief moment will stay with that person and you never know just how much it could mean to them.”
The Foundation host ‘Extra Time’ and ‘Kirkham Companions’ – both of which are targeted at over 65s to come and socialise for a couple of hours a week, have a brew, go for a walk and play some activities.
We want to encourage people to come down, or to recommend it to people they may believe it is beneficial for – not just this week because it’s LAW, but every week.
For more information regarding any of our Loneliness Prevention Projects please email: bernadette.kunna@afcfylde.co.uk
For examples of what a ‘random act of connection’ is please click here.
