The Cooperative and British Red Cross have partnered up in an attempt to tackle loneliness by telling people to offer to watch the Rio 2016 Olympics with their neighbors.
Together, the joint anti-loneliness sponsors are also working on research which hopes to uncover the underlying causes and effects of loneliness, helping the thousands of lonely people in the UK find a way back into society.
Colin Brown, the Director for Independent Living & Crisis Response for British Red Cross said: “You can invite a neighbor around for a cup of tea to watch the Opening Ceremonies, athletics or wheelchair basketball.”
Mr Brown also asked: “Who wouldn’t want to share that moment of joy?”
Chief Executive of the Co-op, Richard Pennycook said: “Loneliness and social isolation is one of our biggest social issues, but it gets little public attention. From young people struggling to find their identity, to single parents bringing up kids, to carers coping with dementia, to the elderly left on their own, it does not discriminate – isolation is a problem we can all do something about.”
According to the Co-op one third of their customers know someone in their family or have a friend who is lonely, furthermore one seventh of the Co-ops customers have said they are lonely.
The charities have already raised over £2 million out of their £3.5 million goal by doing various events, the most successful one so far being the Big Red Weekend. They plan to do many more fundraising events in the future.
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