Thanks to more than a dozen Seagate helpers and a corporate donation of £1700, today's Age Concern Derry's Christmas Dinner provided some 100 older people with an annual get-together and festivities.
The event, which has been running for the past twenty years, aims to make the festive season as happy a time as possible for older people, especially those who would otherwise feel out of touch with the seasonal celebrations.
After the traditional turkey dinner, the older people were treated to a visit by Santa - who arrived on a fire engine; a present; entertainment; and afternoon tea with mince pies.
Explaining why they run the event, Roger O'Doherty, Director of Age Concern Derry, said; "Christmas is traditionally the time of year for families to be together and unfortunately not everyone will be lucky enough to have family and friends around them. That makes Christmas a very lonely time for older people, many of whom are socially isolated and living on low incomes with their activities limited by disability and ill health. There is also a significant number living in what we might consider to be closely knit communities but who have become isolated for various reasons, for example, due to the death of a partner during the year.
"It will be appreciated that the expense of staging such an event is considerable and would be beyond the means of Age Concern Derry to finance it. Consequently, we are totally dependent on the support of generous friends and benefactors to help meet the considerable costs. This year we were delighted that Seagate agreed to join us and meet the total costs of the dinner. This is deeply appreciated."
Mark Moroney, Seagate's Facility Operations Senior Director, said, "It's been a very rewarding afternoon. Working with colleagues and the fleet of Age Concern volunteers has taught me that a smile, kindness and a little bit of teamwork can provide a lot of happiness."
Age Concern Derry has an average weekly footfall of around 500 through its centre. The annual dinner involves regular users of the centre. Services that Age Concern Derry regularly provide include meals on wheels 364 days of the year; a lunch club 5 days a week; relaxation courses including yoga and tai chi; line dancing; afternoon tea dances; bingo; bowling; art classes; and foot care, to name only a few.
Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives, providing products for a wide-range of applications, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Branded Solutions. Seagate's business model leverages technology leadership and world-class manufacturing to deliver industry-leading innovation and quality to its global customers, and to be the low cost producer in all markets in which it participates. The company is committed to providing award-winning products, customer support and reliability to meet the world's growing demand for information storage.
Source: Seagate
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