As Pastoral Assistant for our church,  Joan Hawkins' main focus is on working with the elderly population. We support our senior citizens in Ratby and Groby and also some from surrounding villages. Joan writes: 

'I have projects that I’ve developed to bring elderly people together and help manage their isolation and have the opportunity to have fun, socialise and enjoy a meal provided by us. The numbers of elderly we are currently working with is around 80. We don’t make any formal charge for anything as we don’t want to isolate people who otherwise wouldn’t participate due to financial reasons. We rely on donations but are finding this more challenging. We offer a traditional Sunday lunch and a cinema club each month with light refreshments and annually we do a ‘Holiday At Home’ scheme in which we try to include a day trip to give people an opportunity for a day out. Without funding we cannot do that each year.'

Anything we raise helps us to continue doing the work we do to bring people together and help fight against isolation and loneliness. You can help by signing up to support our cause at any participating Co-op in the country. Simply download the Co-op app on your phone and register your card or, if not already a member, become a member of the Co-op, an organisation that exists to support its members. Through membership you'll get special discounts and of course you get to support your favourite local cause which we hope will be us! In the app, touch the community tab at the bottom right and if you're local Ratby Parish Church Holiday at Home and Lunch Club should appear near the top (or if you're further afield, do search for us) and you simply select us as your nominated charity. You can also do this online from your computer at https://membership.coop.co.uk/register where you can sign up or register your card and then under community choose us too! Don't worry if you can't do this, as a percentage of what people spend locally that isn't assigned will be split between us and the other local charity that has been nominated, so we'll still have your support. Thank you for helping us to help others!