The volunteers helping seniors combat poverty, loneliness and shame

Most people want to grow old – after all, the alternative is worse – but few want to be old, burdened by loneliness, isolation and the looming risk of poverty.

“We thought: nobody is interested in old people,” says Griseldis Ellis, who runs a foundation to combat old age poverty in Germany.

“But the response has been overwhelming. People are much more open, empathetic and interested than they are often given credit for.”

She and her wife Christine Kienhöfer have been running Silbertaler, a project in the state of Rhineland Palatinate to combat since 2021.

“We started in the living room in Speyer,” she says.

Today, the Beyond Unisus Foundation runs an office not far from the cathedral, where teams pack 45 food boxes every week. They deliver fresh fruit, vegetables and other staple foods to senior citizens who are living at home.

One is Heidrun Koegler, 81. “You spoil me so much,” she calls out to Doris Walch in the stairwell as she brings the food. “I got very ill way back and was no longer able to work full-time,” says Koegler.

“Now I have a mini-pension, and Mrs Walsch and Silbertaler save me every week. That way I can look after myself and don’t have to go into an old people’s home.”

For many senior citizens, this is crucial: Staying in their own home for as long as possible.

Koegler and Walch place the food carefully in the fridge. “It’s not just the food,” says Koegler. “It’s also the contact with Silbertaler, the visit from Mrs Walsch: in a way, that’s also food. They give me courage and strength.”

Meanwhile, Kogler says many seniors feel shame about being poor in their old age, says Koegler. “I want to encourage them to overcome this and speak out.”

Seniors in many places face poverty and here in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate the problem is reaching record proportions, according to Karl-Heinz Totz, chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate Seniors’ Union.

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

The risk of poverty among 65-year-olds and older in the state is 20.2%, a recent study shows. “At 23.2%, women in Rhineland-Palatinate are significantly more at risk of poverty than men of the same age at 16.6%,” says the Seniors’ Union.

Ellis, in her office in Speyer, recalls the tree that prompted the start of the project.

“We saw a Christmas tree at a retirement home in town, and on it people had hung up what they wish for, and their wishes were so modest, like cookies, a puzzle book, a bag of crisps, a scarf. People have no money for the little pleasures in life, like a trip to the hairdresser or new clothes.”

Christine Kienhöfer nods. “We just took action. Also because we were doing well in life ourselves.”

At the start, the two women collected donations in kind and soon realized that the need was greater than they had expected.

The neighbourhood group they had started evolved into the Silbertaler project. Ellis and Kienhöfer founded the organization, provided start-up funding and took on a project manager and volunteers to run the day-to-day activities.

The city of Speyer helped to establish contact with those in need.
Now, the foundation says it is financed by donations and receives support from local companies and private individuals. On top of that come collaborations with other charities.

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

In Speyer, Silbertaler currently supports 145 to 150 people, mostly women with many living in care homes. “The need for support is much greater than our current capacity,” says Kienhöfer.

“There are almost 500 recipients of basic income support and more than 2,000 people affected by poverty in old age. Through campaigns, we are constantly trying to make ourselves more visible to these people and increase our offer.”

Their support goes beyond boxes of food. Silbertaler also helps take people who need to go to an official office or local authority, bring in tradespeople or when they need new washing machines and kitchen appliances.

“When people move house, we help them sort out their personal belongings. These are borderline cases,” says Ellis.

Asked what she would like, she hesitates, then says ideally, that everyone would pitch in.

“It would be great if we all showed more mindfulness and everyone helped where they are needed, according to their abilities.”