With the coldest weeks of winter yet to come, Ipswich Citizens Advice warns it is being ‘overwhelmed’ by the number of requests for help from the Surviving Winter campaign.
The life-saving project, which asks those who receive a winter fuel allowance they do not need to donate it to someone who does, has raised more than £100,000 already.
But with fresh requests for help coming in daily, the campaign needs your help to raise even more.
Ipswich Citizen’s Advice lead Nicky Willshire said: ‘We are being overwhelmed with requests for help this winter with demand far exceeding where we would expect to be at this point in the season.
“We’ve already distributed almost three quarters of the money raised and heated over 500 homes, but with our two coldest months still to come, requests to help are flooding in every day.
“We urgently need even more people in Suffolk to give what they can so that we can continue to say yes to everyone who needs our help.
“Making sure that older, vulnerable people stay warm isn’t a luxury, it’s a life saver.”
National statistics reveal more than 700 lives are lost in the county each year due to the cold weather and poor living conditions.
Tim Holder, Suffolk Community Foundation’s head of public affairs said: “We need older people to stay warm in their homes, it’s as simple as that and so much pressure is placed on families and the national health service if we fail to do this.
“For every life lost there are another seven hospital admissions in Suffolk and it’s a shocking fact that more older people die in Suffolk from the cold weather in winter than from every road traffic accidents and drugs and alcohol related death in an entire year.
“It’s a huge challenge and Suffolk’s Surviving Winter Campaign is saving lives.
“This is a simple appeal by Suffolk for Suffolk and we need more people to give what they can to help us.”
If you able to donate all or part of your government Winter Fuel Payment or wish to donate to the campaign visit www.suffolkcf.org.uk, call Suffolk Community Foundation on 01473 602602, pop into any branch of Ipswich Building Society or fill in the coupon in tonorrow’s newspaper.
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