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Listen: Joe McCaul talks about his Irish nursing homes penpal appeal

11:16 20 Oct 2020

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You can now post letters and parcels to nursing homes free of charge

On Monday, An Post announced the launch of their "Community Focus" scheme.

The extended range of post office delivery services will now include free post to and from nursing homes around the country.

By simply writing FREEPOST where the stamp would normally be, An Post will deliver cards, letters large envelopes and packets weighing up to 2KG without a postage stamp.

The move comes as the country goes into a second lockdown from midnight on Wednesday.

An post has just launched ‘Community Focus’, an expanded range of post office and postal delivery supports that are focused on helping communities stay connected read about it here https://t.co/gn2Th3f3r9 ☘️ pic.twitter.com/NrCZmVpUgH

— An Post (@Postvox) October 17, 2020

Source: Twitter (@postvox)

Earlier this morning Aidan and Kayte caught up with Joe McCaul, an activities provider at a Dublin nursing home.

Joe has issued an appeal for people to become penpals with nursing home residents.

In an emotional post on Facebook, the former Eurovision star said:

"Due to the restrictions which have been in place since last March, our residents have been more or less cut off from the outside world. Can you imagine how hard that may be for them?"

He added that:

"The care, love and attention they get from staff is phenomenal but we need something to brighten their spirits even more as the dark evenings approach and low moods become intensified."

Asking the public to get involved, he explained:

"We would love to find some pen pals for our residents. Let's get back to the old school handwritten letters. Tell them about your life, your family, where you're from, what you may do to keep yourself occupied through this crisis. Even your kids can write, it doesn't matter who it is. What I do know is that it will give our lovely residents a glimmer of hope, love, attention that they so badly deserve and something to look forward to each week."