Leaving a Legacy to Age UK Camden Could Help Your Loved Ones Live Well for Longer

With many keen to continue supporting charitable organisations despite the pressure of the current rising cost of living, leaving a gift in your will can be a meaningful way to increase charitable giving without having to donate more at the current time.

Age UK Camden’s Ali Lanchester, said, “Once you have ensured your family is taken care of, writing a charitable gift into your will can be a deeply symbolic thing to do. It’s wonderful to think we can leave this world a little better than we found it. Leaving a legacy to Age UK Camden helps vulnerable older people find comfort, support and friendship. Gifts in wills can be a sum of money, a share of your estate, or a piece of jewellery or art.

“At Age UK Camden, gifts in wills have been crucial in helping us to provide robust support during the pandemic, including working closely with Camden Council to source, pack and deliver over 7,000 emergency food parcels, help with hospital discharge and set up telephone counselling, befriending and wellbeing support. It has also helped us survive as a charity and continue to provide vital services in the challenging couple of years that have followed, as demand for our services has increased with the biting cost of living challenges that have badly affected our local older generation.”

Age UK Camden services are accessed by thousands across the borough. These include a 24-hour advice line, which gives free, expert practical information and support for vulnerable older people in need of kindness. Comfort and on-going companionship and emotional support for isolated and lonely older people is provided through a telephone friendship service. Age UK Camden’s popular book groups are run from three locations and online. The charity also provides digital access training and a variety of services to help older people stay safe and well.

Brian is 92, he has dementia and is housebound. He is supported by his daughter Hannah. Brian used to love visiting art galleries and his favourite artist is Van Gogh. He would have loved to visit the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam but never got the chance. Hannah has an iPad so Brian’s befriending volunteer from Age UK Camden told Hannah and Brian about Google Arts and Culture, and how you can use it to take virtual tours of museums around the world. After I left, Hannah emailed to say she had found the Van Gogh museum on Google Arts and Culture, how excited Brian was about this and that they've got many hours of enjoyment ahead exploring museums together.

Feedback from other Age UK Camden member’s follows:

"I’m very grateful to you for your great kindness over the past year. I do so very much appreciate it. You’re like a sunny clearing in a dark forest. That’s how it feels sometimes as you start to live with getting older.”

'It was such a relief to get support from the advisor with applying for Attendance Allowance. I could never have completed a such a big form on my own. I'm very thankful that such a wonderful service is available.”

“You are great, thanks for all your support. I feel so relieved to have financial support with my rent and council tax as it had become a real source of worry and anxiety. You have certainly improved my finances and this has had a positive effect on my state of mind.”

Ali continues, “Often people choose to remember Age UK Camden in their will when a friend, sibling, parent or grandparent has been supported by the charity and they see what a difference accessing services to combat loneliness, assist social interaction and spark mental stimulation can have in someone’s later years. We all want to live well in later life and it’s worth thinking about what support you would want available for you and your loved ones across the borough as you age.

“If you are thinking of leaving a gift to Age UK Camden in your will and would like to find out more, we have lots of information on our website https://www.ageuk.org.uk/camden/get-involved/leave-a-legacy/, We’d also be delighted to speak to you in person, or invite you to one of our events so you can see for yourself what goes on at Age UK Camden.”