A bus means trips & new friends; we need a new one

Aim

A pivotal service in re-connecting socially isolated Christchurch residents with their community are our minibuses - they need replacing!!

We are a small independent charity whose mission is to reconnect lonely and socially isolated people back into community, so they can live their best life! We do this by both directly delivering services that nobody else does, and by working together with all of the other organisations and agencies, both large and small, who are also working in our community.

Christchurch has one of the highest elderly populations in Europe, and many of them live alone and cannot access transport or activities. During the COVID pandemic we were cooking and delivering 150 hot meals a week to both families and individuals who struggled to access nutritious meals and we realised that there are many of our older residents in that position. We have targeted our transport services, Dial-a-Bus and Neighbour Cars to address this, by supporting a number of Lunch Clubs and offering free places and transport where those are barriers for people. So not only do attendees get to meet new people and expand their social network – but also get a nutritious hot meal to boot!

We now urgently need to purchase a new 17 seater minibus as well as a smaller people carrier to replace our 2 aging (and increasingly expensive!) buses - to be able to sustain and expand this invaluable service and reach many more folk in the Christchurch area. Please help us by donating whatever you can and know that you will be making an enormous difference to many lives!

This project successfully funded on 14th December 2022