WaveLength is the UK’s oldest Charity fighting loneliness with technology. We give radios, televisions, and tablets to people living in poverty to overcome loneliness. We support people who are lonely because of age, illness, impairment, or by circumstances which make it hard for them to leave the house or meet new people.
Technology is proven to help banish loneliness and improve people’s mental health. It can bring people together, help people stay connected and feel part of their community. Our recent research shows that 4% of vulnerable people have no access to internet at home and over 1/3 of people don’t have a radio and are living alone.
Since the Coronavirus outbreak, loneliness and anxiety has been heightened for millions of people in the UK and as the lockdown eases we may begin to see many vulnerable people fall into a category of high level loneliness. This means that they could become chronically lonely which is extremely problematic for their mental and physical health.
During this pandemic, we run an initiative to provide the over 70s with DAB radios in England. The DAB radios include FM and a wider choice of stations, allowing you to switch over to any digital radio station you desire. In one day we received over 9,000 applications but we were only able to meet the demands of 3,000 people.
The scheme has now come to an end, we are extremely thankful to everyone that helped us to make this happen, including the BBC and we are hopeful they will help us again to raise more funds in the near future.
We have been limited by Government support as unfortunately we haven’t qualified for a number of their new Charity funding schemes. Your kind donations mean a lot to us, with additional funds we can continue to help people across the UK that will benefit the most from the gift of technology.
To make a donation or to find out more about what we do, visit: www.wavelength.org.uk.