Marmalade Trust founder and CEO honoured for services to older people.
We are delighted to announce that this week, our brilliant founder and CEO, Amy Perrin, was presented with an OBE. Amy attended the investiture at Buckingham Palace where she was presented with the honour by the Princess Royal.
Amy received the honour for her services to older people.
Marmalade Trust is a leading loneliness charity for all ages and the founder of the now internationally reaching Loneliness Awareness Week.
Over the last decade under Amy’s leadership, we have had a direct impact with over 4,000 people involved in our projects, delivered loneliness training to 55,000 people, and reached hundreds of millions across the world with our global awareness campaigns.
Marmalade Trust has been a driving force behind the cultural shift in acknowledging loneliness exists, and removing the stigma surrounding it which can prevent people reaching out for help. We were recently honoured with the prestigious King’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award given to local voluntary groups in the UK.
The World Health Organization recently declared loneliness a ‘global public health concern’, driving a serious impact on physical and mental health, quality of life, and longevity. The effect of social isolation and loneliness on mortality is comparable to that of other well-established risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity.
High-quality social connections are essential to our mental and physical health and our well-being. Social isolation and loneliness are important social determinants for people of all ages. Humans are biologically wired for social contact, and loneliness is our signal that we need more. By building our understanding of loneliness, we can help ourselves and others to manage the feeling.
No stranger to the need to shout about this message, Amy has become a familiar face in media coverage discussing loneliness and the critical importance of connection. Amy worked to launch the #LetsTalkLoneliness campaign in collaboration with Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS). As the face of Marmalade Trust, Amy has received press coverage in the UK from BBC Breakfast, BBC News, LBC and ITV News, as well as internationally, including Bloomberg and news channels in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Amy has been featured in national newspapers such as The Guardian, and was included in the Independent Happy List, for outstanding people whose charity work or selflessness make Britain a happier place to live.
Amy Perrin founded the charity while working as an Occupational Therapist. Through the nature of her work, Amy was always aware of the painful experience and effects of loneliness and made it her personal mission to do something to change the stigma around it and build a more connected society. What began with Amy taking a few older people for a Christmas Day dinner, has grown to a well-established charity which continues to grow dramatically year-on-year. In the last ten years Amy has raised over £850,000 for the charity.
The recognition of Amy Perrin with an OBE celebrates not just an individual achievement but the collective effort and impact of Marmalade Trust. We look forward to the next decade of creating awareness and support for individuals experiencing loneliness and ensuring that loneliness is openly and honestly discussed throughout society.
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