Vytautas, who can hardly see anymore, but goes for a walk with a volunteer every weekend. Aldona, who recently lost her husband and felt extremely lonely until she met our volunteer Laura, whom she calls an angel. Bronius, who didn't leave the nursing home for the elderly for a long time, until he met his peer Petras, with whom he even went to the Molėtai observatory. Eligija, who hardly walks on her own, but wants to walk even to Cathedral Square with a volunteer. Two great seniors, Lucija and Ona, who developed a friendship precisely with the help of volunteering and now knit, do needlework and drink coffee together. Zenon, who after the death of his wife did not even know how to make an appointment with a doctor and is now learning everything together with the volunteer Vilia. All these stories are just a small part of a large community of seniors and volunteers who found each other and have not felt so abandoned since.
In Lithuania, the number of elderly people who live alone is constantly growing and the problem of loneliness is getting worse. For the fifth year, the Lithuanian Red Cross program "Warm Visits" has been trying to find a deep emotional connection and the quality of communication, so that lonely elderly people feel like full members of our society, want to take care of themselves again, and integrate into the life of the community.
The warm visits program currently visits 2,400 seniors throughout Lithuania, but it is also expanding and wants to meet the needs of single seniors not only in cities, but also in city districts.
This project also aims to reach seniors in the regions and provide them with the means and necessary tools to spend time with a volunteer creating, engaging in artistic activities and encouraging the use of still remaining fine motor skills.
Thanks to this project, it will be possible to create 200 new friendships between elderly people and LRK volunteers, 100 of which will be in non-urban areas.
During 4,800 friendship visits, LRK volunteers will take care of lonely grandparents: they will provide sincere attention while visiting the grandparents at home and the opportunity to draw, create and play together.
