Our Programs and Services

Freunde alter Menschen is a non-profit organization staffed primarily by volunteers. Its goal is to provide an alternative to the isolation and loneliness of many elderly people. We believe that this condition for some elderly people is one of the most unbearable forms of poverty that can effect those of our community.

Our volunteers regularly visit elderly people and often take them out to events and on field trips.
We are dedicated to establishing a personal relationship between the volunteer and the elderly person.
Our volunteers are dedicated to forming a relationship with only one, or maybe two, elderly persons. The resulting relationships can and often do develop into lasting friendships.
We provide seasonal parties, game afternoons, coffee klatches, lunches and story-telling sessions as well as opportunities for telephone visits.
We provide supervised housing (apartment-sharing communities) for the elderly people with various forms of dementia and support the movement to increase the availability of this form of housing.

Flowers before Bread is therefore the principle through which friendship, companionship, communication and trust become the foundation of our social involvement. Elderly people also have a right to friendship and companionship, a right to participate in community life. Reliable friendship and companionship are therefore offered to our elders for the duration of their lives, by volunteers who have become the essential pillars of our organization.

Friendship and companionship depend on mutual cooperation. They cannot be assigned or planned as in a traditional care-giving setting. This means that the elderly persons have free choice of when, how often and by whom they will be visited.

The Visiting Program

The visitor program is our primary contribution, through which we bring the volunteer and an elderly person together, in the hope that a life-long friendship can be established. The volunteer pays regular visits to his or her elder friend and assists in addressing the friend’s concerns and in minimizing life’s little irritations. These activities help the elderly person preserve his or her sense of independence for as long as possible. As in the best of friendships, this new relationship will provide comradeship and support.

“Apartment-Sharing Communities” for Elders with Dementia

Since 1995, we have organized “apartment-sharing communities” for our friends with dementia. In spite of some strong opposition, we have become politically engaged, to the extent that our facilities have become part of Berlin’s recognized supply of housing for this specific need. Furthermore, the State of Berlin has recognized the growing need to provide for this special category, the elderly with dementia.

Presently we rent six apartments to those with dementia and offer outpatient nursing care to those in need (nursing service). Our current success has brought us to our maximum capacity. In addition we have advised others who have developed proposals following our model. So far there are 130 “apartment-sharing communities” for persons with dementia in Berlin alone! We are also exporting our expertise and experience to other German cities that have either proposals or existing housing for elderly with dementia. These include Bremen, Hamburg, Mainz, Munich, Freiburg, Frankfurt and Dortmund.

Easter and Christmas

We believe that it’s appropriate to celebrate the Christmas holiday on Christmas Eve, not weeks beforehand. Every year at this time and at Easter as well, we invite our elderly friends to celebrate with a festive dinner in our facility so that they do not have to spend the time alone at home. Staff and volunteers cooperate in the preparation for these holiday dinners. We decorate our hall and invite all to sing the songs of the season. In addition, stories are told and poems are read creating the holiday atmosphere found in most homes.

Outings

A weekend outing to Potsdamer Platz, to the zoo or Tierpark, to Lafayette or KaDeWe gives our elder friends not only a chance to enjoy some fresh air but also to revisit memories of happy times in the past. To this end, our volunteers plan small and large group outings with great care and consideration. The elders are picked up at their homes, provided with a wheelchair or other assistance if needed, and brought back home at the end of the day. During the outing, lunch is provided, either in a restaurant or as a picnic.

Trips

We also organize longer trips for our elder friends to Paris, the Lüneburger Heide (Lueneburger heath), to Caputh or elsewhere. Such trips offer both volunteers and the elders, fun, new impressions and unforgettable experiences. Many of the elders connected with Freunde alter Menschen have not had the opportunity to travel for years, sometimes decades. Some have avoided long trips because of the absence of needed assistance and the appropriate pace or because of inhibiting health conditions. For others, independent trips are just not financially possible. Therefore, a group of elders and volunteers will travel out of the city and into vacation fun, normally one time in the year, in the summer. The volunteers usually take personal vacation time for these trips.

A Visit by Phone

Freunde alter Menschen often becomes aware of elders who are alone and isolated, for whom it would be advantageous to be welcomed into the activities of the organization as quickly as possible. However, there may not be, at the time needed, a volunteer ready to contact this elderly person. We’re also aware of elders who are either not interested in a visitor or who would rather gradually, over a length of time that is comfortable for them, develop a trusting friendship with a volunteer.

In these situations, we have developed the “telephone visit”. We have a telephone team that meets two times a week to call elderly people. Up to 25 elders receive calls at this time. During these calls, almost every subject imaginable may be discussed, from “this and that’ to troublesome experiences or actual cares, problems, disappointments, hopes, fears and wishes. We know that many elders wait for their afternoon call with great anticipation.

Game Time

Many of our elderly friends have fond memories of playing games or doing puzzles with their family or with friends. They find that they lack a partner for games in their current, often isolated situation. Therefore, Freunde alter Menschen came up with the idea of providing a game afternoon for those who enjoy these activities. We also have quiz time. The quiz questions ask the contestants to identify famous sights of popular cities, the most popular dishes of other nations, the most popular TV (or radio) programs of past times, etc. Of course, there is always a prize. After two hours of games, there is always the unanimous opinion that that it was a great success with fun for all.

Since March of 2005, young members of the Lions Club’s Leo-Club Berolina Berlin come to our facilities to run a Bingo afternoon. These “young lions” bring enthusiasm and joy to our elder friends and are careful that no one feels left out.

Story Café

Our memories are the treasures of our lives, but who wants to share them with us and our elders? We provide the Story Café as a setting for the expression of what has moved us in the past and what continues to move us now. How do we see the world, life and love? A long life has provided us with many stories to tell and many experiences to share. The Story Café provides a comfortable space for the enthusiastic exchange of these experiences. Thoughts and feelings sometimes lost through loneliness are brought back to life during this sharing of the past. With this experience, we hope that elders can lose the feeling that they have nothing to say and that no one will listen to them.

Coffee Klatsch

We invite our elderly friends and our volunteers to a monthly afternoon of coffee and pastry. Without any pressure, this gives elders a chance to meet new friends, see old friends, chat and also make contact with volunteers they may have met first during the telephone visit. They can get to know each other and make appointments for future visits. Many of our friends have become regular visitors to the coffee klatsch. There are always first-timers as well.

Lunch at Freunde alter Menschen

Guten Appetit! (Enjoy your meal!) Once a month we invite our elderly friends to a lunch at our facilities. The volunteers prepare a fabulous meal and serve it to the delighted guests. We are able to take care of any special dietary needs. This lunch offers a delightful change for our friends used to eating at home alone.