Friendship Days at local Macklin homes

Macklin Care Homes have announced Age NI as their chosen charity of the year for 2019, aimed at helping eliminate loneliness and social isolation in the older generation in local communities across Northern Ireland.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Dec 2018, 11:15 BST
Updated 10th Jan 2019, 10:50 BST
Pictured extending the hand of friendship to the local community at the Macklin Care Homes #FriendshipDays Launch are (l-r), local school children from Ballycastle Primary School, Muirin Hughes and Eamon Gomez with resident Elizabeth Cassidy and Nadine Campbell from Age NI.Pictured extending the hand of friendship to the local community at the Macklin Care Homes #FriendshipDays Launch are (l-r), local school children from Ballycastle Primary School, Muirin Hughes and Eamon Gomez with resident Elizabeth Cassidy and Nadine Campbell from Age NI.
Pictured extending the hand of friendship to the local community at the Macklin Care Homes #FriendshipDays Launch are (l-r), local school children from Ballycastle Primary School, Muirin Hughes and Eamon Gomez with resident Elizabeth Cassidy and Nadine Campbell from Age NI.

The partnership commences with a series of ‘Friendship Days’ kicking off on January 15 with each of the five care homes within the group inviting members of the local community for afternoon tea and entertainment.

Macklin operates Leabank in Ballycastle and Ratheane in Coleraine.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The inspiration for the project came from some of the children and young people who regularly visit family in the homes. Mary Macklin, Director at Macklin Care Homes explained: “We have a lot of young people visiting our homes and they love to interact and engage with our residents.

“In conversation we explained how important their visits were to the residents and we asked what they thought could be done to help older people who were feeling lonely. Some of the answers truly warmed our hearts, they suggested we could simply talk to them and say a ‘Hello’.

“Some suggested sharing their lunch, others suggested bringing their pets, and so on. All the ideas were just lovely, and we can definitely learn something from the simple act of

extending the hand of friendship to someone in need.

“We then came up with the concept of ‘Friendship Days’ where we will reach out to others and

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

share what we have, hopefully doing some good for our local communities and our residents at the same time.”

If you know someone who may benefit from coming along to a #FriendshipDay or to download the

#FriendshipDay Guides and see how you can play an important role in the life of someone who may be lonely please visit www.macklincarehomes.com

For further information on Age NI advice, care and support visit www.ageni.org

Related topics:Northern IrelandColeraine