A community café in Rickmansworth helping to reduce isolation among the elderly has received a funding boost thanks to the National Lottery.
Reach Out Café launched in 2009 to encourage older residents to get together and socialise with others in their community. Hosted at Our Lady Help of Christians Church, attendees can enjoy tea, coffee, conversation, fitness sessions, and a variety of games and activities.
Now, the café has received £11,000 from the National Lottery which will help them expand their offering to help even more local people.
Speaking to Ricky News, director of the café Rosemary Ofosu said: “We’re hoping to use the money to get our own permanent premises that will be open all the time. We’re looking for a new location, somewhere central on the High Street, and Gagan Mohindra, MP for South West Hertfordshire, is helping us with this.”
Speaking about how the café started, Rosemary explained: “I have a background in nursing. I was working in Harefield Hospital and talking to another employee about those patients who are due to go home but can’t be discharged because they have no one to visit them and nowhere to go. Then it clicked that there was something I could to help.
“The café gives people a chance to get out of their homes, go out and make friends. People can come, sit and relax, read, do exercises, and just be together. Some of them now also meet in each other’s houses or the Aquadrome to go for a walk. The group is getting bigger and bigger.”
To find out more about the café, call 07985 350119 or visit www.reachoutcafe.co.uk
Photo credit: Gagan Mohindra Facebook
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