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Description
Individuals aged 60+ are estimated to account for nearly 25% of all inhabitants of the Podlaskie province, and according to forecast this proportion is likely to grow systematically. The situation looks similar in our Supraśl commune (Białostocki district). Based on our activities so far, we can see that there are many seniors in need of support, but also many elders who have the time and will to help others. We have come up with an idea how to make use best of this situation to build mutual neighbourly help, promote volunteering initiatives, supporting elderly citizens in our commune at the same time. We will organise a series of meetings promoting the ‘Help for Help’ project in many prominent locations, encouraging people to report their needs and abilities to support others. We will invite them to regular socialising meetings to talk about how we can support one another and about our ongoing needs. We will organise a series of workshops developing project participants’ interest and skills, as well as trips or visits to movie theatres or opera – this will allow senior volunteers to get to know one another better and to spend their free time actively. We will also organise two study tours to locations in which similar senior initiatives already function to look for solutions and good practises we would like to adopt.
Summary of project results
The project addressed diversity of needs of seniors living in small towns and villages in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. In selected towns and villages in Supraśl municipality, many seniors look for opportunities of helping someone while helping themselves meet their own needs for human contact and some sort of entertainment (e.g. organising a joint walking tour with sticks, baking cakes or driving their car to meetings at the Senior Citizens'' Club). The project responded to these needs and offered seniors opportunity to meet their own need to get involved in social life while helping others who need support. We wanted to create a self-help network of seniors in neighbouring towns so that we could help them be more active and involved in their communities.
We coordinated the exchange of various forms of assistance within the senior citizens'' group. For example, if someone needed company for Nordic walking, they called the coordinator, the coordinator found the person in the database who offered their company for such activity, put the two people in contact with each other and recorded the number of hours the participants spent with together. In the beginning, the role of the coordinator as intermediary was crucial. During the 2 years of the project, almost 100 participants took part in different activities. We organised a total of 14 promotional meetings for 261 people, 60 hours of thematic workshops for 120 participants, 10 integration trips for 100 people. "Music therapy" groups were formed in all the towns involved, and Senior Clubs were established in two of them. 25 seniors took up the challenge and run the Seasonal Tourist Information Point in Suprasl as part of the new "Ask the Senior" project. We have also created a website for the ''Active'' association with a tab for the Help For Help project, as well as a Help For Help Facebook profile. We organized study trips to 3 other cities to learn about initiatives similar to our project and exchange experiences.
The coordinator initially help participants connect with one another and recorded the hours they spent together. Over time, when the number of project participants increased, the coordinator’s role changed as it became reduntant. Seniors joined groups, helping each other became long-term participants. Our activities have also resulted in a significant increase in activity among seniors in Zaścianki. It is now much easier to organise any meeting, workshop among seniors. They are more open and active. During the study tours we were able to compare our experiences with those in other cities. We learned from them and modified our project a little, so we can boast of our success.