Staying warm energy for financial savvy elderly

Aim

Helping elderly isolated/vulnerable people to develop financial savvy and stay warm in the face of the cost-of-living crisis

Cherishers understand the importance of financial knowledge in challenging the cost of living crisis. We want to increase our impact and reach, helping the elderly improve knowledge, and take practical steps to enable financial awareness. We will support them to increase confidence and develop skills to manage their money whilst staying warm in our community facilities.

We will create a warm room in our community premises and make financial support training available to assist people with internet banking, benefits claiming and understanding their bills – providing assistance on how the applications process works.

Many need to use the internet to carry out basic transactions. They are panicked about the cost of living and need help to explain what support is available.

Cherishers provide befriending in our community and are in a position of trust to those aged 60-90, being a trusted carer, we support financial management. We are in a unique position of trust to assist the vulnerable and isolated.

We have identified the need for a warm space and trained assistants /technology to provide access to mainstream financial services and tools. We see the requirement as being a critical lifeline providing cost-of-living support to vulnerable clients.

We will provide a warm room for 20 people once a week for 10 weeks Jan- March 2023 with access to cost of living support though our specialist partner agencies  

We will be supporting our community by being committed to being environmentally conscious through sharing information and ideas such as installing renewable technology or introducing energy efficiency measures to help our clients increase energy independence.

Financial support lunch club at the warm bank, 20 people 1 day per week for 10 weeks, allowance £50 per person to include carers, pick up and drop off, Chef, cleaning and all dining provisions.  This will also include sessions with advisors to help with energy efficiency, and partner agencies who can advise on access to benefits.

We need to make ourselves more energy efficient  - with the Installation of renewable energy technology, LED lighting, and using EV transport to collect our clients. If we are more energy efficient we can reduce our bills leaving more resources to help others.

We believe if we can show people energy efficiency measures we can increase their confidence and encourage them to become more energy efficient too.

This project successfully funded on 2nd January 2023