Rachel Spencer
Running the Great North Run 2022 for Wag & Company
Fundraising for Wag & Company North East Friendship Dogs
Story
I've decided to run the Great North Run for Wag & Co because they do wonderful work helping tackle loneliness by providing friendship dogs for the elderly.
Imagine having loved and owned dogs all your life, and being in a position where you're no longer able to have a furry friend of your own?
That's when Wag And Co - a charity providing friendship dogs. They match dog lovers with dog owners in their community, and arrange visits so people don't feel isolated.
They have 401 ‘friendship dog’ volunteers visiting people in their homes and in care homes, day centres and hospices, across the North East and parts of Cumbria and North Yorkshire.
Volunteers are aged between 18 and 85 and it costs the charity £352 per year to recruit, assess and train each dog and they rely on fundraising and donations.
So if I'm able to raise £352, this will help provide one more friendship dog.
Loneliness and social isolation are chronic problems in the elderly in the North East.
An estimated 50,000 pensioners in the region are chronically lonely and are 50% more likely to die prematurely than people with good social networks.
This means loneliness is as big a mortality risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Many are dog lovers and when they ask for a furry friend from Wag & Company, they get the bonus of a very nice two legged one at the same time.
Over 401 amazing Visiting Wag Teams are currently making the difference, from Berwick-upon-Tweed, down to Stokesley, across to Haltwhistle and pretty much everywhere in between.
