Loneliness charity makes connection with £1,000 grant

A new charity which helps alleviate loneliness and isolation for adults throughout Cornwall has been given a cash boost to help raise its profile.
Persimmon Homes Cornwall has awarded Connecting Lives (Cornwall) £1,000 through its Community Champions initiative, a scheme that sees an annual pot of £24,000 donated to local groups and charities to match-fund money previously raised.
Connecting Lives has been founded by health and wellbeing professionals Leonie Morris and Jacqui Morris(no relation), to address isolation and loneliness experienced by adults not in work, training or education, or who are retired.
Leonie, who made the application to the Community Champions fund, said: “Our aim is to address social isolation and loneliness in Cornwall through a home-visiting service to any adult experiencing low-level mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
“We are a brand-new charity and this donation means an awful lot to us. It is hard for smaller charities to win funding and we are very grateful that Persimmon Homes Cornwall has given us this support.
“We are in communication with the local NHS and are already part of the Cornwall Social Prescribing Network and have potential funding from some of these services, but we are still fundraising and have a charity auction on November 16 in Falmouth, which has been supported by local businesses.”
Jane Cartwright, sales manager at Persimmon Cornwall said: “We are delighted to support Connecting Lives (Cornwall) as it establishes itself to offer fantastic work in the community helping combat isolation and loneliness.

“If applicants for our scheme were unsuccessful last month, we urge them to visit the Persimmon Homes website and to try again and hopefully they will become our next Community Champion.”

Organisations can apply for funding by completing a simple online form at www.persimmonhomes.com/charity
For more information about, or to support Connecting Lives (Cornwall) please visit: www.connectinglives-cornwall.org