THE MOVEMENT "LONG LIVE THE ELDERLY"
The activities
A Movement of elderly for the elderly and for all the society |

The Movement spotted one specific field of action in the concrete solidarity, above all towards the most lonely and weak elderly. Visiting who feels cast away from life circuits can communicate hope and give again energies: it is the most concrete manner to affirm the value of life of the elderly and of every life. For this very reason the Movement launched the campaign "A Hour of time" in which, according the words of Anna, an elderly lady living in an institute, asking for company and friendship, to promote the voluntary service of the elderly aimed at relieving the loneliness of many elderly people living in institutes.
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Prayer: mission of the elderly |

The elderly have many moral and spiritual energies that can be a common resource. Let us think about the prayer, a really special mission of the elderly. Before the serious problems that invest all humanity and with respect to which we all live a sense of weakness and/or of indifference, prayer represents a real and concrete force of changement, of hope, of widening of the horizons and of proximity with everyone. Prayer is a service that can be done by everyone, also by the weakest. Prayer is a treasure that especially the elderly have at their disposal and that the world needs. It is the force of the elderly, it is the meak force of the weak. "Long live the elderly" therefore is also a movement of prayer. Thousands in every part of the world are the elderly that pray with us for the needs of the whole humanity.
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The Movement "Long Live the Elderly" in the institutes |

The Movement "Long Live the Elderly" was born in many getriatric structures in Europe and in the American continent. In fact among its programmatic objectives the Movement proposes a preferential attention to the most weak and lonely elderly. The spirit of the Movement is then a proposal of humanization of the settings in which many elderly are forced to live and in which the cohabitation is often difficult. Also those, belonging to the Movement, who live in institutes, live the solidarity towards the most isolated and sick patients, thus contributing in very concrete manner to restore serenity to the life of these persons. Although being very elderly and sometimes in serious difficulty themselves, they feel the responsibility of helping many coevals not to cut themselves off, by creating a setting where everyone can live with dignity and fullness. In this way they humanize also terrible places. In many institutes periodical meetings of the members of the movement are held, to start initiatives of self-help, of self-protection, of animation and of integration with the neighboring territory
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Solidal Elderly |

Many of the elderly that adhere to the Movement are involved also in other actions of solidarity. They witness to all that it is always possible to take care of someone else poorer, weaker. Many are those that keep company and support elderly in trouble. Good neighborhood, in their building or in the district, is one of the most common ways to help. Others prepare sandwiches for the clochards that live on the streets of our cities, supporting the service Friends on the streets. Some others take care of raising funds to support various actions of the Community, for example by means of collections and charity sales. Others collect used clothes, sort them, rearrange them for the poor, for the prisoners, to send them off in countries of the South of the World.
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A movement without walls |

The Movement, besides, organizes meetings among elderly and youngsters, children and adolescents. The younger generations easily loose the sense of history and with it an important part of their identity. The reason is also to be seen in the attitude of life that brought the youth away from the elderly, hampering dialogue between the generations. The elderly can tell to the young their story, communicate the horror of war and the value of defending and loving peace. From these meeting important experiences of friendship were born, rich of educational contents.
Very important are also the meetings between elderly and extra-European foreigners. Many immigrants from the South of the world to western countries work for the elderly as home care assistants.
The possibility of better mutual knowledge, of better mutual esteem, of understanding the culture and story of one another helps a relationship that is not always and naturally easy..
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