Volunteers help older people fight poverty, loneliness and shame

Most people want to get older – after all, the alternatives are worse – but few want to get older, lonely, isolated and imminent poverty risk is heavy.

“We think: No one is interested in the elderly,” said Griseldis Ellis.

“But the reaction has always been overwhelming. People are more open, understanding and interested than they are usually commendable.”

She and her wife Christine Kienhöfer have been running Silbertaler, a project in Rhineland since 2021.

“We started with Speyer's living room,” she said.

Today, the Beyond Foundation at Unisus Foundation is not far from the cathedral, where there are 45 food boxes per week. They provide fresh fruits, vegetables and other staples to the elderly who live at home.

One is 81-year-old Heidrun Koegler. “I'm back and can no longer work full-time,” Kogler said.

“Now I have a mini pension that Walsh and Mrs. Silborough will save me every week. So that I can take care of myself without having to go into the elderly's home.”

This is crucial for many older people: stay in their own home for as long as possible.

Koegler and Walch carefully kept the food in the refrigerator. “It’s not just food,” Kugler said. “It was also Mrs. Walls' visit to Silborough: it was food in a sense. They gave me courage and strength.”

Meanwhile, Kogler said many older people are ashamed of the poverty of old age. “I want to encourage them to overcome this and speak out.”

Karl-Heinz Totz, president of the Patrrant Seniors' League, said seniors in many places face poverty, and the problem hits a record proportion in the Rhineland calm.

“One in five pensioners in Rhineland-Palatinate are at risk of poverty in their old age, which is much higher than the national average,” he said.

A recent study showed that the state’s poverty risk is 20.2%. The League of Elders said: “Rhineland-Pathlin women have a much higher risk of poverty than their peers.

Ellis recalls the tree that prompted the project to begin in her Speyer office.

“We saw a Christmas tree in a retired home in town, people hung what they wanted, and their wishes were so humble, like cookies, puzzle books, a bag of potato chips, a bag of chips, a scarf. People don't have the money to come for small fun in life, like going for a trip with a pair of hair or a new outfit.”

Christine Kienhöfer nodded. “We just took action. It's also because we ourselves are doing well in life.”

At first, the two women gathered in kind and soon realized that the demand was greater than they expected.

The neighborhood group they started to develop into the Silbertaler project. Ellis and Kienhöfer founded the organization, provided startup funding, and hired project managers and volunteers for daily activities.

The City of Speyer helps connect with those in need.
Now, the foundation says it is funded by donations and has received support from local companies and private individuals. Most importantly, work with other charities.

“We want to be a model project that can be imitated in other cities,” Ellis said. “Our experience and infrastructure can help launch similar projects elsewhere in Germany.”

At Speyer, Silbertaler currently supports 145 to 150 people, most of whom are many women living in nursing homes. “There is a much greater need for support than our current capabilities,” Kienhöfer said.

“There are nearly 500 recipients of basic income support, more than 2,000 people are affected by poverty after older age. Through the campaign, we have been working to make ourselves more visible to these people and increase our offer.”

Their support goes beyond the food box. Silbertaler can also help people who need to go to an official office or local authority, bring in businessmen or need new washing machines and kitchen utensils.

“When people move, we help them sort out their personal property. These are fringe cases,” Ellis said.

When asked what she wanted, she hesitated and ideally said that everyone would be involved.

“It would be great if all of us showed more mindfulness and everyone was helping according to their abilities.”