ALONE welcomes €100,000 donation from Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan

ALONE, the organisation that supports older people, has welcomed support from Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan. The global star is donating €100,000 to the charity, enabling them to continue to provide vital assistance to older people at this time and into the future.

“Through interactions with the Irish government and HSE about critical and immediate support that Ireland needed, I found out that ALONE was a charity doing fantastic work looking after older people all over the country. With greater support they will be able to reach so many more, always a priority but especially during this unprecedented crisis. It’s a real pleasure to help such a great cause,” said Niall.

With additional resources being put towards COVID-19 activities, and fundraising events being cancelled or postponed, Niall’s donation will help to ensure that ALONE’s services have the financial support they need to continue and develop further into the future.

“We are so grateful to Niall for his amazing donation which will make a huge difference to ALONE and the older people we support, and we would like to thank him for his wonderful generosity,” said ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan. “Our message throughout this period to every older person has been ‘you are not alone’. We would like to thank Niall for helping us to continue to make this a reality and support older people across Ireland.”

“At the moment we are putting huge resources into keeping the national COVID-19 phone line for older people operating and ensuring that older people have the emotional and practical supports they need to get through this crisis. We want to ensure that the support we provide, which has proven so vital over the last few weeks, can continue after the crisis is over. It is supporters like Niall that help to make this happen.”

ALONE continues to encourage older people who need advice or support to call their support line, 0818 222 024 from 8am-8pm, seven days a week. The ALONE helpline offers advice and support for COVID-19 and other issues that are coming up for older people at this time, including difficulties in relation to physical and mental health, loneliness, isolation, finance, safety, and housing. At its peak, ALONE has received more than 1,100 calls a day.

The support line, which is running in collaboration with the Department of Health, the HSE, and Local Authorities, is available to all older people including those who have not used ALONE’s services previously.

Contact ALONE on 0818 222 024 if you have concerns about your own wellbeing, or the wellbeing of an older person you know. Further information can be found on www.alone.ie.

If you would like to donate to support ALONE’s work, visit www.alone.ie/donate