Day 2

150 g of food for needy seniors in Bavarian Swabia

SO THAT THE PLATE DOESN'T STAY EMPTY EVEN IN OLD AGE

Enabling people to live their final years in dignity with food parcels

Friedel W. is 69 years old and looks forward to the big box of groceries every month. She is always surprised by a new treat and knows that the boxes will ensure she can reliably secure her food at the end of the month. She is also grateful that the volunteers are supporting her on her way out of isolation and financial hardship. Friedel has worked as a hairdresser all her life. She took a break for a few years to raise her children and then worked part-time. When the children left home, the marriage broke up and her mother became a nursing case. So she could only work a little again. Later, with her small pension, there was hardly anything left to live on after the rent. She made do with food from the food bank and went to the senior citizens' café. But then she could no longer physically manage the long journeys and the few social contacts dried up. Corona made the isolation even worse. With the food parcels, not only food comes through the door, but also company and support.

Katharina Countess von Ballestrem-Fugger presents her favorite project

need

Year-round secure supply of food and assistance for senior citizens in Bavarian Swabia

activity

Volunteers deliver monthly food packages to needy immobile seniors

Measurable performance

Number of food parcels delivered

Result

The seniors can also feed themselves at the end of the month, thereby experiencing greater security and well-being as well as access to further support services

Systemically relevant impact

Improvement of food security and quality of life, as well as reduced existential fears and isolation among the supported seniors

background

Biographies like Friedel's are exemplary for many women in Germany. At the end of decades of employment, there are low pensions and high levels of poverty in old age. These consequences can be traced back to traditional family structures with the associated breaks for raising children, part-time work and primarily work in the low-wage sector. Those affected rarely seek help in the form of basic social security. The reasons for this are the high bureaucratic hurdles, the shame of being in need and the fear that their own children would then be prosecuted (Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2022). Poverty in old age is widespread. More than one in five people over the age of 80 (22.4%) in Germany is affected by poverty. This poverty rate is higher than that of the general population (14.8%). Among very old women, the proportion is even more than nine percentage points higher than among men (University of Cologne, 2021). In no other federal state are as many women at risk of poverty in old age as in Bavaria. With a poverty risk rate of 26% of women over 65, Bavaria takes the sad top spot among the federal states. The rate for women is thus roughly a third higher than the 19.7% poverty risk rate for men of the same age (Federal Statistical Office, 2023). Poverty means much more than "just" money worries. Those who lack money often also lack security and social participation. That is why the Malteser "Food Parcels Against Old Age Poverty" were launched more than 12 years ago together with the "Kartei der Not". The purpose of the food parcels is to support needy seniors when they can no longer reach the nearest food bank. Through contact with the volunteers, the recipients receive care and access to other offers of help. In this way, the consequences of old age poverty and the loneliness in old age that is often closely linked to it can be reduced.

The good deed

Your good deed today will fill the plates of needy, immobile seniors like Friedel W. The food parcels relieve the seniors of the worry of what they will eat in the last week of the month when their bank account is empty again. At the end of each month, those in need receive a box with around 7 kg of food for around 20 meals. The food parcels contain basic foodstuffs, fruit and vegetables. The parcels are delivered and handed over by volunteer Malteser teams. When talking to the seniors, it becomes clear again and again that in addition to the urgent material help, the closeness and time given by the volunteers are just as important. The good deed alleviates the consequences of poverty and loneliness in old age and gives those affected easy access to other offers of help.

About Germany

Berlin

Capital city

84,079,811

Population

48,432.5

Gross domestic product per capita per year

0.942

Human Development Index (Human Development Index)

The European comparison also highlights the problem: at 28.1 percent, the poverty risk rate among those over 65 in Germany in 2021 was higher than the EU average of around 27.4 percent (German Bundestag, 2023).

About the organization and further information