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Christmas cards aim to combat loneliness this festive season

A Facebook community has teamed up with a greetings card company to create a special collection of Christmas cards for those prone to experiencing loneliness this winter.

The concepts for the cards have been created by people living with dementia and were brought to life by greetings card company thortful. All proceeds from the cards sold will go to the charity Dementia Adventure.

The idea for the cards came about through the Facebook community Postcards for Kindness, which began life as a social media campaign last year encouraging people to send Christmas cards to any one of 10 care homes run by Your Health Limited.

Dementia Adventure claims that one million people in the UK will have dementia by 2021 and that Christmas is a particularly challenging time for those with dementia, as well as the elderly in general. According to Age UK, half a million people over the age of 65 are expected to feel lonely at Christmas, with nearly a quarter of a million expecting to be on their own one at least one day over the festive period.

Organisers hope the campaign will help combat loneliness and isolation across the country, and remind residents in the care homes that there’s always somebody thinking of them.

Howard Gordon, one of those living with dementia who helped design one of the cards, said:

I got involved because, sadly, many people have no family or contact not just at Christmas. I want to say you’re not alone. It will hopefully put a smile on someone’s face.

Victoria Weller, Managing Director of Your Health Limited and creator of the Postcards of Kindness project, said:

We are so proud of the project and how far it has reached and know that people will support us in sharing festive memories with our elderly community and care homes in the group.

You can order one of the cards by downloading the thortful app and searching for ‘postcards of kindness’ or by visiting their website and choosing from the selection available: https://www.thortful.com/creator/postcardsofkindness