Lottery funding for Drogheda and District Support 4 Older People

DROGHEDA & District Support 4 Older People is just one of a number of initiatives in County Louth to benefit from National Lottery Funding.

The charity received €2,500 in 2016 which it put towards the purchase of a secondhand van and more gardening and painting equipment.

‘ The funding made an enormous difference as it enabled us to have two teams of volunteers now, which has basically doubled our capacity and efficiency,’ says Dave. ‘Our clients are happy that they can now avail of our service on a more regular basis,’ he says. ‘We also now have new clients in areas that we were unable to reach before.’ It is not just the senior citizens who benefit though, as the funding has helped provide more volunteering opportunities for people who are interested in gardening, painting and general household maintenance. The organisation also provides services such as information provision, a visiting service to ease loneliness, a telephone service and computer classes. One very cool feature is that it holds classes two evenings per week teaching conversational English to new immigrants, using older people as the teachers.

DDS4OP looks after over 500 senior citizens annually living in Drogheda, south Louth and East Meath.

A team of 19 volunteers carry out an average of 10 jobs per week, and trusted service providers are used for larger jobs.