*** Information provided by Karbon Homes ***
For those of you who might not be aware, Karbon runs a telephone befriending service for over 55’s, Silver Talk.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK 4 months ago the demand for Silver Talk has rocketed and we have tripled the number of service users who receive a weekly social call from one of our volunteers.
Many of our existing volunteers were keen to support this growth and take on more calls each week, however to bridge the gap and make sure that new service users were able to benefit from the service as quickly as possible, we turned to Karbon colleagues for help.
This worked fabulously and we’re incredibly thankful for the time our colleagues gave up to help, however now that lockdown measures are easing and many of our services are back online a number of our colleague volunteers are having to return to their original roles and aren’t able to support to the level they were before.
Unless we’re able to recruit more community volunteers to fill the gaps, we’re afraid that some of our service users, who have grown incredibly attached to the service and benefit hugely from a call each week, will be left without a volunteer.
This is where we need your help! We would be really grateful if you could put this message out to your connections to see if anyone would be interested in signing up to become a Silver Talk volunteer.
The minimal weekly commitment needed would be 45 mins, which would allow them to make one, up to 30 minute call, and have time to update notes on the system.
However, the more time that can be committed each week the more service users they’ll be able to help.
The volunteering can be carried out from home and a mobile phone will be provided. When it is safe to do so we will reopening our hub spaces in Stanley and Hexham for our volunteers to make calls from, and come the time travel expenses to and from these hubs will be covered.
More information on volunteering, including a volunteer role description, can be found on our website www.karbonhomes.co.uk/silvertalk
Alternatively, our coordinators are happy to answer any questions and chat a bit about the volunteer roles and the service. They can be reached via email,silvertalk@karbonhomes.co.uk, or by phone, 0191 223 8662.
Silver Talk would be nothing without our volunteers, who make the service possible. However we would also like to take this opportunity to thank our funders, Stanley AAP, Mid Durham AAP and Derwent Valley AAP, as well as our contractors Travis Perkins and City Electrical Factors. Not only have each been integral to the growth of the service but their support will enable the service to keep going and growing in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this and any support you can offer is greatly appreciated.
