One of the big problems for the elderly is loneliness. Many of their friends have died and it's hard to replace the people in your life at that age. I'm working on a community at my church and neighboring churches where the elderly can get together or have easy contact with one another, so they can make new friends and have social activities. It's kind of like creating a network for the elderly, but in a positive, community sense. Are you familiar with similar programs or do you have any suggestions? I'm trying to make this as simple and self sustaining as possible. But I hope to hear what other groups are doing or get additional ideas on making this successful. Thank you.
How she did it was we each picked a shutin from a list. For the next year we were to send cards for special occasions. Visit if we wanted. Give small gifts. After a year, we were asked to switch off. We had a Tea. If our "friend" could attend an invite was sent to him/her.
I lucked out because the woman I chose was the first secretary for the Visiting Nurse Assoc that I was secretary for. She worked in the 50s, I worked 50 years later. Learned a lot of history from her.
You would have to look at asking a local bus company to devote time and resources to help seniors get to and from the activities. Many of them can't drive anymore.
Our seniors at our church do field trips to museums and other places.
Find out some of the special personal stories your seniors can tell. Do you have Veterans among your membership? Civilians who lived through wars? Honor them by asking them to stand in commemoration of Veterans Day. Plan an event where they can tell their stories.
Do you have members who attended one-room school houses or lived through other special historic circumstances or events? Maybe they had an ice box when they were young, or usually rode in a carriage. It is so interesting to learn about their lives.
You can hold special events that correlate to holidays - for Valentines Day celebrate those in the congregation that have been married 40 plus years and ask them to give their best hints for making love last. If they aren’t comfortable speaking in front of the congregation, publish their remarks in the bulletin. They will feel special. Host a Valentines dance where you play love songs from their youth. Even the widows and widowers will feel younger when their hear “their” songs.
All the best, with my prayers.
Great suggestions, everyone!
Our senior citizen group at church does the typical dinners once a month as a social gathering in the banquet hall at church.
Recommendations are printed out for seniors with community activities such as reading books for our local radio station for our blind community. Some have been volunteering for years reading books.
We also have guest speakers come in to address seniors. I went to the ‘end of life’ planning which covered, hospice, living wills, burial or cremation arrangements, etc. It was very good. Very simple refreshments were served, coffee, soft drinks, cake and cookies.
One thing that a lot of seniors love are the special field trips, museums, an art gallery, a picnic at a local park, socializing in a new spot!
Not at my church but one near by has a community garden that seniors plant vegetables and they are distributed to low income families.
A bus is chartered and off they go! They appreciate it because not all seniors drive and they get to visit different places and do different things. It’s a nice change of pace for them, a special memory which is special because it’s experiences that they often crave and often means more than material things.