Casserole Club- Winter Warmer Challenge

by Startacus Admin

As we rush about our busy, busy lives on such a grim and ghastly winter’s day as this, we can be forgiven for forgetting to spare an extra thought for the older people living in our neighbourhood.

For many reasons Christmas and winter generally can be a very difficult time for many older people. Cold weather and long dark evenings can leave them feeling particularly isolated at this time of year. Did you know that half a million people aged over 75 in the UK, will spend Christmas alone this year? It’s a chilling statistic but one that is easy to believe.  

Casserole Club, if you haven't come across them before, are a really innovative community that have created their own unique way of helping to alleviate some of the hardship faced by older people.

Basically they are a community-led meals on wheels service, created by the people, for the people. They link together folks who love to cook with those living near them in need of some home-cooked food.  

The process takes place both online and offline and is really straightforward.  You sign up via the Casserole Club site - complete a few formalities and checks - get approved - find out who lives near you that needs hot food - contact them - arrange a time to deliver and cook some mighty good food in advance.

Make #WinterWarmer Mission

In a extra pre-Christmas push, Casserole Club are appealing to people across the country  to share a portion of good home-cooked food with an older neighbour this season, to help make their #WinterWarmer.   

With this fresh challenge Casserole Club have brought into sharp focus, the huge range of benefits which can be delivered to both the diner and the cook, through being involved with the community.

The making #WinterWarmer campaign is not just about sharing home cooked meals, it’s about visiting an older neighbour in the long dark evenings, offering to pick up the shopping if it’s cold, icy or snowy outside, or simply picking up the phone to have a quick chat and see how they’re doing. It’s about making an extra effort to think about the older people in your area, and simple ways to make their #WinterWarmer.  

“This is a really nice project and I’m so glad I signed up to it. I don’t see as many people as I used to, so the visit from Clare every Wednesday with the dinner is great. She is very friendly and always stays for about half an hour so we can have a good chat about what’s going on in the world. Clare’s meals are lovely and it’s so nice to have one cooked for you.   don’t mind doing myself a sandwich but cooking a hot dinner is getting more difficult for me and not really worth it when there’s only me.” - Janet, Casserole Club Diner

Well, you can’t say fairer than that can you?

To get involved with the making #WinterWarmer campaign, pop over to Casserole Club and don’t forget to spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and anywhere else you can think of.

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• #winterwarmer
• #casserole club
• #social impact
• #christmas

Published on: 9th December 2014