SENIOR APPEAL

This Christmas, some of our neighbours will sit alone.

Among the seniors in our community are people who society has quietly left behind - people who once raised families, built careers, and contributed to the fabric of our lives. Now, many face each day with a dignity that poverty and isolation try to strip away.

At the Irish Support Agency, we walk alongside 25 vulnerable seniors whose reality is far from the warmth most of us will experience this Christmas. Living on aged care or disability pensions that barely stretch to cover rent, they face impossible choices: pay bills or buy groceries. Take medication or turn on the heating. Some live in boarding houses with nothing more than a kettle, relying on cold sandwiches and cereal because they have no way to cook a proper meal.

We're already there for them, but we want to do more this Christmas.

Our team supports these seniors year-round, helping them attend hospital appointments, navigate unsafe living conditions, and manage the challenges of waiting on endless government lists for care services. We assist with what we can, but resources are limited, and the needs are great.

While many families and friends gather around abundant tables this Christmas, these individuals will face the weight of empty rooms and silent days. Some will spend Christmas with no hot meal and no one to share it with. The emotional toll of the season weighs heavily in their isolation.

This year, we want to give them something beyond our regular support, a reminder that they matter.

We're asking you to help us raise $2,500, just $100 per senior, to give each of these 25 individuals a shopping voucher. A special gesture that says: You are not forgotten. You deserve dignity, joy, and something just for you this Christmas.

With this voucher, they can buy a warm meal for Christmas Day, fresh food to enjoy, or perhaps something small that brings them comfort, a simple pleasure many haven't been able to afford in years.

Your gift won't replace the support we provide, it will add something we can't: a moment of unexpected joy.

It will remind them that beyond the regular help, someone went out of their way to think of them. That in their isolation, they're truly not alone. That this Christmas, they are seen, celebrated, and deeply valued.

Please, help us give these 25 seniors a brighter Christmas.