Our new Christmas card appeal seems to be catching the public’s imagination, our posts on social media have been shared more than 800 times, reaching over 150,000 people across the world, in just 14 days!

We are asking people to send us Christmas cards so we can distribute them to people living in residential care this Christmas.  According to one neuroscientist the positive feelings generated by receiving any type of card, but particularly Christmas cards, are great for health and wellbeing. Dr Lynda Shaw said: “I firmly believe that receiving cards increases self-esteem, helps to stave off feelings of loneliness and isolation and even to ward off the early stages of depression.”

Volunteer Manager Helen Davies is one of the team behind the appeal. “As a charity we provide ongoing support to people living in residential care and are aware that not everyone receives regular visitors, a situation that can be particularly difficult at Christmas. So, we are hoping that sending cards with festive messages to residents will help to spread some extra joy this year and help alleviate feelings of loneliness.”

We launched the campaign on Facebook by asking our 2,000 followers for help, however, the message was shared by hundreds of users and soon reached more people than we could ever have hoped.  Amongst the 110,000 people who have already seen our appeal include those living in Australia and Canada, with cards even arriving from Singapore and Japan! This sharing of our message has led to offers of help from schools, workplaces and care homes, who are now busy writing cards for the appeal. 

Rhodri Poacher from Talbot Green is one of our volunteers and first suggested the appeal. “I have been touched by the support for the card appeal and am so grateful that people are engaging and making this idea a reality. I wanted to let people living in residential care know that there is someone out there who cares and is thinking of them. Thanks to the generosity being shown through this appeal, so many people will get to feel that this is Christmas when they receive one of our cards.”   

Getting involved in the appeal is easy, we are asking people to buy a card, write a festive message inside and send or take their card to our head office in Aberdare by December 12. The special post box at our Cynon Linc HQ has already been emptied twice, but with care homes across three counties waiting for cards, there is plenty of demand to meet.

Melanie is the manager of a care home situated in Cynon Valley and gave us her thoughts on the appeal. “This is such a beautiful thing to do at Christmas, I know our residents will cherish a card given to them, other than my staff sending them a card they may not receive one. We would also like to be involved in sending cards. We will help our residents reach out to other residents this Christmas.”

To find out more about the appeal you can visit the appeal page.