Wolves Foundation’s hugely successful Pen Pals initiative to bridge the generation gap returned just in time for Christmas – with a little help from our friends at Cadbury.
Earlier this year, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, children from the Wolves Foundation’s PL Primary Stars programme took part in a Pen Pal scheme writing letters to Wolves Elders, a group of the club’s elderly supporters, and Molineux Memories, a project run for people who have been diagnosed with dementia and their carers.
Both groups have been unable to meet at Molineux during the pandemic, so the Pen Pal scheme was devised to try and reduce any potential effects of loneliness and isolation.
With thanks to a new partnership between Wolves and Cadbury, the Foundation embarked on Pen Pals 2.0 just before Christmas, with a kind donation of some sweet treats being delivered to adult members of the groups, along with letters from local schoolchildren and Wolves captain, England international Conor Coady.
Over 50 drop-offs were made to adults in the community, in line with current Covid-19 guidelines, thanks to Foundation staff helped out by several players from the Wolves Women team.
Tom Warren, Foundation Senior Manager (Projects), said: “We had always planned to revisit the Pen Pals scheme because it was so successful the first time around in helping keep in touch with some of our elderly supporters and those at risk of feeling isolated.
“Those thoughts of being alone or missing those close family links during lockdown restrictions are going to be felt more keenly during the festive period, and so we asked pupils from our partner schools to once again become ‘pen pals’ with some of our older supporters.
“It all worked perfectly in terms of the club agreeing a new partnership with Cadbury, who have been really keen to support our work in the community.
“And so, as the first initiative following the announcement of that partnership, Cadbury kindly provided us with some of their product which Wolves Women helped us to deliver as a little extra Christmas present for our supporters.”
Rachel Smith, Health & Wellbeing Manager with the Foundation who oversees the Wolves Elders and Molineux Memories projects, added: “We know that this year has been a difficult time for so many people, and for the Elders and Molineux Memories groups not to have been able to meet in person is such a shame.
“We have kept in touch with members of both groups with regular phone calls, and these letters and the donation from Cadbury have received some lovely feedback as the recipients know that the young people have been thinking about them ahead of Christmas.”
The initial Pen Pals project helped to maintain positivity across Wolverhampton through letters and drawing passed on by children to spread a smile and prevent loneliness whilst people were needing to isolate during the pandemic.
Cadbury were only too pleased to get involved and support the return of the initiative ahead of what has been a very different Christmas for so many.
As part of the new relationship, Cadbury will also be offering Wolves fans unique access to their club through a series of activities that fans can look out for over the coming months and seasons.
