€500k Lotto win’s perfect Xmas present
much as you don’t hold a title or a role. You start seeping away, forging fewer relationships, possessing less influence and, ultimately, people pay less attention to you.
Sean revealed the sad fact that when the lonely die, the Alone volunteers are often the only ones who are there until the end. He said: “In the last few weeks I know cases where people have passed away and the only person visiting them in hospital and the only person there when they were passing was their volunteer because people are that cut off.”
In Western society we fear ageing, it’s almost shameful and we will do everything in our power to reverse the signs of getting older.
Christmas Day is for kids we hear... but is it not supposed to be about family and spreading the neighbourly joy?
Youth is fetishised and our elderly are either relegated to nursing homes or left in the hands of home care in the belief it is a solution for loneliness.
In other cultures old age is revered. In India the elders are the head of the family, in Native American societies they are the wise ones who pass down their YESTERDAY Charity offers support to those living alone knowledge. In China and Korea families live by the principal of respecting your elders and looking after them in old age.
In African American culture death is seen as the natural rhythm of life which lessens the fear of aging.
In ancient Rome, elders were regarded as a precious resource and to this day Italians have huge respect for old age.
My Nana Joan, God rest her soul, was in awe of how she was treated on a trip to Italy. She couldn’t get over how respected she felt and how she was spoken to with such high regard. I
■■1 in 10 older people suffer from chronic loneliness to the extent it will shorten their life.
■■40% of people who ring Alone contacted the charity themselves.
■■For every house Alone gets access to, 50 people are in need of support.
■■Alone currently has
700 volunteers. They need 7,000 to cope with the demand.
■■On Christmas Day 70 Alone volunteers deliver around 230 dinners in Dublin.
■■A third of all over-65s live on their own. Family may have moved away.
■■In a changing country, the number of people who live as part of a two-person household has gone from 300,000 to 900,000, which means if you are bereaved, you are left without a partner.
■■For further information on Alone call 01 679 1032 or visit alone.ie. learnt so much from my grandmother. With six children to look after her and grandchildren who idolised her she always told me how lucky she felt.
Independent until the end of her life, she would sojourn up to the shops to get her few groceries and loved bumping into the neighbours.
We would go to the theatre together and I loved how she was never afraid to tell it how it was.
I miss her so much and I’d give anything for one last cup of tea together.
Our elders hold the wisdom and they hold the key to life. Let’s reach out to them this festive season. Quick Pick win ONE lucky family made a last-minute dash to Lotto HQ yesterday to pick up a cheque for €500,000.
The syndicate from Co Tipperary had bought the winning Quick Pick at Mckevitt’s Costcutters Store on Friar Street in Thurles.
Rejoicing in Dublin yesterday, one member said: “What a way to celebrate Christmas. The win came completely out of the blue.
“I collect their syndicate payments every six months and I think most of them even forgot they were involved in it.
“It’s an amazing surprise just before Christmas and we’re going to enjoy the next couple of days before we decide on what to do with the money.”
People pass away & the only person visiting them was a volunteer SEAN MOYNIHAN