The gift of helping seniors in need - registry connects generosity with necessity. No gift wrap required.
Posted Le 16 novembre 2016
With the holidays fast approaching, I have gift giving on the brain. I love giving gifts – the joy of finding the perfect gift to put a smile on someone’s face is a feeling that’s hard to beat - but I seriously hate wrapping them. With a passion. The reality is I’m just really horrible at it and there are few things that I’m terrible at that I enjoy (pool and bowling are the exceptions). I’ve gotten slightly better over the years but somehow it always manages to look like the package may have gotten run over by a car or attacked by three very angry rolls of tape or packaged by a four-year-old. When my son was little, I used to let people assume that he wrapped their gifts. The bulging corners, the squished middle, the crooked lines, the excessive quantity of tape, the ribbon looking like the dog had chewed it. I didn’t tell them he did but I didn’t correct them either. “Awww that’s so adorable!” they would coo as they reached down to pat his little head while I gave him the stink eye over their shoulder using my telekinetic mom-powers to clamp his adorable little mouth shut. But now you know my secret and my son is 18 & can no longer be used as a scapegoat.
Today I discovered a darker secret of sorts when I stumbled upon the website for Seniors In Need™, a grassroots organization whose mission is “to address the hidden tragedy of impoverished seniors in Canada by uniting Seniors In Need™ with concerned Canadians who want to help.” Hidden tragedy indeed. Like many, I was under the mistaken impression that poverty among seniors was a problem beginning to fade into history. A quick look through the site and a few googles later and my eyes were opened. “Seniors’ poverty in Canada on the rise” is emblazoned in bright red letters headlining an article on The London Poverty Research Centre @ King’s website. The article, published in March this year, cites information provided by the Broadbent Institute and comes on the heels of a report by the National Seniors Strategy for Canada in January that announced the staggering statistic that over 600,000 seniors live in ‘low income’ in our country. The article highlights single senior women who live alone, aboriginal seniors, immigrant seniors, seniors with disabilities, and gay and lesbian seniors as among those experiencing the highest rates of poverty.
It's likely that those of you working directly with older adults in the community are more painfully aware of this tragic reality than I was. With damp eyes reading through the requests for assistance for seniors submitted by health & community support service organizations, I couldn’t help but think of you and the challenges many of you likely deal with when you are faced with your clients’ unmet basic needs because they can’t afford it. When clients are living on very low and fixed incomes, “We know from our experience, that sponsoring organizations often feel they can’t get enough of the resources they need, or that the senior's need cannot be met through their organization's mandate. That’s where we come in.” says Peter Cook, co-founder of Seniors In Need™ on their website.
Seniors In Need™ is an online registry that connects pre-qualified seniors with willing donors across Canada. Seniors in need are identified by non-profit organizations in the community who submit the requests to the registry – a confidential summary of the request for support is then posted on the website. Potential donors can view the summaries and then be linked with the agency that made the submission to request more information or to donate. There are a wide range of requests – from financial assistance to get heat and lights turned back on, to funding for dentures, mattresses, meals, assistive devices and more.
For some, this time of year is pure joy; maybe you’ve been counting down the days since last year and decking the halls for weeks. But reading through the list of needs on the website today has been a clear reminder for me that for some it’s just a continuation of a harsher reality - poverty and ill health don’t take time off over the holidays, not even the stats. Whether it’s using Seniors In Need™ by submitting a request on behalf of a client or by donating, or by other direct means to support a vulnerable person in your sphere of care, perhaps you’ll consider thinking differently about giving back and ways to give back as the holiday season approaches and all year long. No gift wrap required.
http://www.seniorsinneed.ca/about
P.S. The Core Team of the Community of Practice wants to help you better support your older adult clients and loved ones who are dealing with the impacts of poverty. We have plans in the works to bring you more information on the range of options available to help them access financial assistance and home support services. Stay tuned!