Hazzard supports ‘Silver Saver’ | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Hazzard supports ‘Silver Saver’

Local Assembly man Chris Hazzard has pledged his support for a new campaign launched by Age Sector Platform. ‘Silver Saver’ aims to influence food retailers to introduce pensioner discounts to help older people afford a balanced and healthy diet.

On signing up to support the scheme, Hazzard commented:

“In recent times we have all become aware of the rising cost of living generally, but specifically food is becoming more expensive to purchase. For many pensioners here in South Down, the only form of income they have to live off is their state pension. This often will be used up paying for things like utility bills and transport.

“I know of numerous cases where pensioners have been forced on a weekly basis to choose between heating their home for the week or eating. That’s scandalous and I certainly wouldn’t want to see anyone close to me being forced to make such a decision. The continuing rise in the cost of fuel certainly needs to be addressed, although it is not the only contributing factor. The developing supermarket culture here in the north has left our local retailers struggling to make ends meet and reaped the heart from many of our town centres.”

He added, “These supermarkets make millions of pound profit every year, yet little of it is directed back into our local communities. I fully support the ‘Silver Saver’ campaign and would urge large scale food retailers to embrace the scheme.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=20642

Posted by on Aug 6 2012. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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