‘You Have Nothing to Lose and Everything to Gain’: Adopt a Grandparent Launches Annual Review and Impact Video Highlighting the Lifesaving Power of a Weekly Call
One conversation a week. That’s all it takes to change a life.
That’s the message at the heart of Adopt A Grandparent’s newly released 2024/25 Annual Review and Impact Video, unveiled last week at an uplifting event hosted by Coutts in London. Drawing on powerful new polling, heartfelt personal stories and a year’s worth of standout results, the release highlights the profound effect of intergenerational friendship - while calling attention to the silent epidemic of loneliness still facing many older people across the UK.
The charity’s founder and CEO, Shaleeza Hasham, said:
“Loneliness isn’t solved by strategy documents. It’s solved by connection, one call, one voice, one person at a time.”
From September 2024 to August 2025, over 400 care homes across the UK signed up to take part in the charity’s virtual Companionship Programme. 365 new volunteers, aged 14 to 84, joined the mission. 159 older people were matched for regular weekly calls, with an average call length of 31 minutes - and one conversation even lasting an incredible 73 minutes.
More than £80,000 was raised over the year, through community fundraising, sponsorships and grants. But behind each figure is something deeper: a human story. A schoolboy who showed up to a care home with flowers for his grandparent match. A Korean-speaking resident who found his voice again. A family who took part together, forming an unlikely but life-changing bond with a new friend.
Despite the impact, new polling commissioned by the charity and carried out by Censuswide shows a troubling insight: while three in four UK adults (74%) say they’d be willing to give 30 minutes a week to speak with a lonely older person, 25% say they’d feel too awkward to start. 16% admit they simply wouldn’t know how to begin.
“This isn’t apathy,” said Shaleeza. “It’s anxiety. People want to help - they’re just afraid of getting it wrong.”
Adopt A Grandparent helps overcome that barrier. Every volunteer is trained and safely matched based on shared interests, values or language. Calls take place via a secure, AI-supported platform, developed in partnership with Together.ly, allowing the charity to monitor wellbeing, respond to safeguarding concerns and improve emotional engagement.
Founded in 2019, Adopt A Grandparent has grown from a small idea rooted in family-run care homes into a nationally recognised charity and movement. It is now an approved Duke of Edinburgh volunteering activity, and works in close partnership with sector leaders including Care England, NAPA, Autumna, carehome.co.uk and Care Campaign for the Vulnerable.
The event at Coutts was a celebration of everything the charity - and its community - has built together. The newly released Impact Video, screened on the day, was incredibly moving.
Shaleeza said:
“To every person who has played a role in this movement - our volunteers, our care home partners, our ambassadors, our sponsors, our trustees, and the incredible Adopt A Grandparent team working behind the scenes - thank you. Your compassion has sparked so many conversations and friendships. And to Coutts, thank you for so generously hosting us and supporting our mission.”