It’s not too late to donate.
With Christmas just around the corner, we’re all facing the prospect of celebrations that are very different to those we are used to. But for many veterans like Clive, every Christmas is spent alone – and loneliness hits you very hard when you’ve experienced the close camaraderie of the RAF. That’s why Clive wrote to ask for your support of our Christmas Appeal this year. He knows first-hand the difference our services make to the lives of veterans just like him, who won’t be spending Christmas with their family or loved ones. If you’ve already responded to Clive’s plea by sending a donation, thank you so much. Because of your support, our Connections for Life service will continue to match vulnerable people with caring volunteers whose phone calls make the world of difference to their quality of life, at Christmas and beyond.
But there are many more people in our RAF community who face a lonely Christmas this year and we are working tirelessly to reach them all. It isn’t too late to support our appeal and light up Christmas for another isolated veteran. Your donation could provide the gift of friendship in some of their darkest days.
Please donate if you can. A gift of just £30, or whatever you can spare, could make such a difference.
Thousands of RAF veterans like Clive are living isolated and alone, facing a lonely and depressed Christmas. In these unprecedented times we have been working hard to reach the most vulnerable in our community, so your donation is more vital than ever before.
No one who served their country should be left with only memories for company. Please, help make Christmas different for lonely veterans like Clive by giving a gift today.
“Whatever we did, we were in it together…”
This is a sentiment that will be shared by many who served in the forces. A time Clive looks back on fondly. Joining the RAF in 1964, he was posted to RAF Changi in Singapore and was later posted to RAF Bawtry, where he worked until 1969. He remembers these as the best days of his life.
Undoubtedly it was hard work, and not without sacrifice; but Clive loved the comradeship and friendship bonds he was able to develop. When he left the service, Clive struggled to adjust to life without the forces. By the time he retired, he was living alone and becoming increasingly isolated.
But in 2020 Clive found a friend: the RAF Association. It started during the first lockdown when our volunteers dropped off bags of shopping when he couldn’t get out. Now our Connections for Life service means he receives regular calls from Doug, a fellow RAF veteran, who has bought much needed friendship back into his life. But Clive is one of many who needs our support, over 170,000 people in the RAF community say they suffer with relationship or isolation problems. You could help end their loneliness through our Connections for Life service by paying for a trained volunteer to call a lonely veteran.
For Clive, the time he spent at RAF Changi in Singapore was the best of his life, the ‘good old days’. Because of the work of the RAF Association, Clive now has bright days ahead too. If you can, please help us to ensure that no one who has served their country is left to feel isolated or lonely.
With our best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year.
