Seniors
Helping the elderly is the largest part of Maltesers’ activities. In total, we take care of 2320 elderly people in 44 locations in Lithuania and provide them with all kinds of assistance – from visiting them during holidays to daily meals.
The first and foremost task of the Maltesers’ is to meet the food needs of the needy elderly. To prevent the sick, the frail and the underprivileged from starving. To this end, warm soup in thermoses is delivered to the weakest. We symbolically call this programme “Meals on Wheels”. It is very much needed because sometimes the soup brought by the Maltesers is the only warm food on the elderly’s menu.
The food is delivered according to the individual needs of the elderly – between 1 and 7 times a week. Dry food baskets are provided for the stronger ones, who are still able to prepare their meals alone or with the help of a volunteer. But a visit from the Maltesers is not just about delivering food.
Just as important, just as necessary, is the care and visit to the elderly. It is the human contact that lonely, rarely out-of-home grey-headed people miss so much. After all, interacting with a volunteer gives you the opportunity to ask for help – to change a light bulb, to accompany you to the doctors, to church, to do household chores that are too heavy for tired hands. In order to have funds for feeding and caring for the elderly, every year in November-December we organize a donation campaign “Maltesers soup” and invite the Lithuanian public to donate.
Another important part of our work with seniors is our seniors’ day centres, where lonely seniors who are hungry for social relationships gather. It operate in 6 cities (Vilnius, Utena, Viduklė, Kriaunos, Marijampolė and Kaišiadorys) and are attended by 118 seniors. There is also 1 seniors’ club in Žiežmariai with 11 seniors. The elderly people in this group not only visit the elderly, but also celebrate holidays together, spend time in a meaningful way and socialize.
