Christmas FM is delighted to announce ALONE, the organisation that supports older people to age at home, as the official charity partner for the festive radio station for 2020.

The radio station is aiming to raise over €200,000 which will go directly towards ALONE’s mission to provide support coordination, befriending, and access to all of ALONE’s services to thousands of older people every week who are homeless, socially isolated, living in deprivation or in a crisis. Donations from listeners will enable ALONE to provide over 20,000 hours of vital support to older people in Ireland enabling them to live happily and independently in their own homes and communities, as there is no place like home – especially at Christmas time.

Christmas FM will be celebrating its 13th year on air this year when it launches in November and, since it began broadcasting, has raised almost €2.5 million for a range of charities. The costs of running Christmas FM are covered by various sponsors, ensuring that all on-air fundraising and donations will go directly to ALONE.

Garvan Rigby, a co-founder of Christmas FM, says:
‘2020 has been an unprecedented and tough year on us all but especially on the older generation. ALONE is a very special organisation who, now more than ever, need our help and we are delighted to be partnering with them for Christmas FM this year.”

“The radio station creates a feel-good festive factor that is unrivalled anywhere else, and we look forward to sharing that with everyone at ALONE – staff, volunteers and, of course, all who avail of its wonderful service. As sponsorship pays the running costs of the radio station, this means that all monies raised on air through donations can go directly to ALONE and we look forward to raising as much as possible this year for such a worthy cause.”

ALONE was founded by Dublin fireman Willie Bermingham in 1977. During a cold winter in 1976, Willie and his colleagues found the remains of a number of older people in tenements throughout the city. Willie was so shocked by the appalling conditions they had died in that he, and a small group of friends and colleagues began distributing food, fuel and blankets to those older people who were most in need. Today, ALONE continues its work providing direct services to thousands of older people as well as campaigning for the rights of older people in our society.

Commenting on the charity partnership with Christmas FM, Seán Moynihan, CEO of ALONE, said:

“The ALONE community are delighted to be the named charity partner for Christmas FM this year. Our “Give the Gift of Home” campaign resonates so highly and thoughtfully with what we hope to achieve through this partnership – raising necessary funds to enable older people to stay in their homes for as long as they wish. Loneliness, poverty, homelessness, housing and medical issues, unfortunately, can be indiscriminate. We have an ageing population, which is a great accomplishment we can be celebrating, but as a result of this we are also witnessing an ever-increasing cohort of older people facing the above challenges – never thinking they could be the one.”

“We are determined to make this the best and most meaningful Christmas ever as COVID-19 has made this such a trying year for all individuals. Our older generation have been asked to cocoon making their home the only safe location for them. We want everyone’s house to be a home and we hope we can achieve this through our Christmas FM partnership this year.”

To find out more about ALONE visit www.alone.ie, follow @ALONE_IRELAND on Twitter or visit ALONE Ireland on Facebook.

Christmas FM plays round-the-clock Christmas tunes, spreading an abundance of festive cheer and seasonal goodwill every single day in the run-up to Christmas. Broadcasting almost nationwide, Christmas FM is listened to by almost one in three adults. It is entirely funded through sponsorship and run each year by more than 100 volunteers on-air, devoting hundreds of hours of their time. The station is also available online.

While the main on-air sponsorships are now in place with key brands for 2020, there are a variety of other sponsor opportunities still available to help businesses to get noticed over the festive season – please contact our Sponsorship Team