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What planet are Age UK on....

(57 Posts)
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Anya Sun 07-Feb-16 12:56:28

I emailed Age UK a few days ago about volunteering opportunities in my area. This is the reply I've just received....is it me hmm

"Thank you so much for taking the time to contact Age UK about volunteering. We really appreciate it.

Sadly, around 60% of people in the UK aged over 65 aren't expecting festive happiness to be part of their Christmas this year. Your vital support will mean we can reach out to many more lonely older people.

We are very lucky to have received a huge number of volunteering offers recently, but this does mean it might take us a little longer than we'd like to get back to you, unfortunately.

We'll let you know about volunteering opportunities in your area as soon as we can. We would also encourage you to consider informal opportunities to help with social isolation in your area. This could be as simple as asking a neighbour round for a mince pie, writing someone's Christmas cards for them, or taking someone in later life Christmas shopping.

In the meantime, you might like to have a look at Your Time - the Age UK volunteer magazine we send twice a year to our volunteers - or join our campaign to tackle loneliness.

Thank you once again for offering to support Age UK - we simply couldn't help so many people love later life without our volunteers.

Very best wishes"

And it was signed by the Head of Volunteering in the UK

Should I reply and point out it's February? ....but it doesn't inspire confidence does it?

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DerekY Fri 03-Jun-16 05:06:41

A friend of mine said that after you see the building they have in London you would be amazed and have second thoughts.

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loopyloo Wed 08-Jun-16 10:21:31

Anya, really good advice . Do you have any more ideas? I am not organised and have trouble getting moving these days.

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Blinko Wed 08-Jun-16 14:40:56

Aren't Age UK supposed to be involved with GN nowadays? In the sense that they peruse it as a forum for issues affecting older people. Not that I've seen any evidence of it so far. I'm just wondering how that partnership actually works, particularly since one hopes they'll be reading a thread which must be of interest to them directly. Or not... hmm

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supernanauna1 Mon 27-Jun-16 00:37:42

I had the same problem when I volunteered as a dog walker/helper with the RSPCA. I eventually got a letter to say they're reorganising their volunteer lists to make more efficient use of their volunteers and they would be in touch - that was about three months ago and there hasn't been a squeak from them since.

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bgd76 Sun 16-Oct-16 18:51:01

I volunteer for Age UK. Volunteers do not run their website! It is done professionally, Volunteers advice & help customers or the elderly with many things. They also help run shops by sorting goods and selling them.

I've been on many worse sites myself, Sainsburys is one of them! They sent me an order with zero goods all because the site is poorly made, I even had to ring up to cancel a delivery that cost £0.00...Please understand how websites get maintained before certain comments.

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Wobblybits Sun 16-Oct-16 19:43:07

AS I have said on another thread I was an employee of Age Concern (which has now amalgamated with Help the Aged to become Age UK).

I worked (Paid, not volunteer) as a carer in a Day center, In my experience Age Concern could not organise a P U in a brewery, they wasted so much money.

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