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Red Cross seeks volunteers to keep elderly people company
Could you spare a couple of hours a week to have a friendly chat with an elderly person facing social isolation?
The Belgian Red Cross is urgently looking for volunteers to take part in home visits and meet old people who do not have family or a support network.
Last year, Project Hestia - named after the Greek goddess of the home - made more than 12,000 visits to 552 people suffering from loneliness. Demand is particularly high in Brussels, where 112 people have joined the waiting list this year.
The appeal has been launched to coincide with the UN's International Day of Older Persons on 1 October. Volunteers - who must be aged 18 or over - will be asked to commit one or two hours per week, and will receive full training.
For more information, call the Red Cross by dialling 105 free of charge.
Photo: Cristian Iohan Ştefănescu/Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons
Comments
This society is not kind to older people. I hear stories of "forced retirements" all the time. In Belgium you are expected to retire at 65, in other countries you may work until you are 100 if you are able to properly do the job. Men who are forced to retire tend to whither and die, women do better. Men must always have something to do, it is their nature. Having said that, I wonder if there is any demand for people who are only fluent in English ?
Same question.
My question is same. If people with fluent English can be of any help?