Cards from caring students help combat loneliness

Big-hearted students and staff from Loughborough College have written heart-warming cards to residents of a care home as part of a campaign which focused on tackling loneliness.

The team, representing the whole College community, wrote the cards during Mental Health Awareness Week for residents at Waterside Court in Loughborough.

Students Megan Carr, Grace Moore, Kieran Hindley and Harsimran Gill, from our Caring Services team, joined lecturer Sharon Geary and Safeguarding Officer Keira Hand, to deliver the cards to residents.

Grace said: “The reason I took part was because not many elderly people have family visiting them and they could be lonely, so visiting the residents and giving them cards hopefully made them happy, and it makes me happy knowing that I was a part of that experience.”

Her classmate Megan said: “I took part to make people smile during this stressful time and it made me feel proud to be able to make people smile and make their day.”

Keira, from the College’s Welfare and Development Team, said: “The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week was loneliness so we decided that writing a card with a message on it to those who are living away from their families was a good way to spread a hopeful message and for students to give back to the community.

“These students all volunteered on their days off from college to attend the home and delivered the cards through the letterboxes of the residents.”

The College received a letter back from the home to thank students for their lovely, thoughtful and inspirational messages.

Loughborough College’s approach to safeguarding and student wellbeing was graded as Outstanding by Ofsted earlier this year.