Event Details
- Date: 31 March 2022
- Website: Visit now
About the event
A new charitable organisation has been established called Connect Fermanagh, to build on the work taking forward since April 2020. The service will formally launch on 31 March, highlighting the issues and the need for policy makers to develop new approaches to reduce isolation. The event is an opportunity to celebrate the kindness of the volunteer befrienders, shining a light on their contributions.
About Social Change Initiative Enniskillen
The Fermanagh Community Trust has grown from a small community centre to a multi-purpose building that has pioneered world changing community building programmes like Shared Education as well as hyper local services like Connect Fermanagh, a connection project that arranges weekly calls between isolated people in this large rural county to help them with feelings of isolation and build friendships through the old-fashioned art of conversation.
Event highlights
Our community story
As the country closed down, rural communities where the elderly and isolated relied on home visits from carers or trips to town just to have a conversation, the Fermanagh Community Trust stepped in to connect the lonely and keep their spirits up. What initially began as a phone tree became a network of people looking out for each other with weekly calls, helping with advice and friendship and overcoming mental and physical health problems together. When the lockdown lifted, the Trust realised that this would help older people overcome the barriers caused by lack of broadband or issues with technology and Connect Fermanagh became an official charity linking the lonely.