This time of year, the warm embrace of family and friends can make a world of difference. But for the thousands of older Chicagoans who no longer have someone to share the holiday season with, there’s Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly. The international nonprofit’s Chicago chapter has been working to relieve isolation and loneliness for local seniors since 1959.
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Little Brothers hosts regular social events, birthday parties and holiday meals across the city, and pairs volunteers with Chicagoans 70 or older who have fewer than two 30-minute social interactions per month. The group currently serves more than 1,200 seniors.
“No one’s asking how their day was, no one’s holding their hand or giving them a drink of water. (This is) someone who’s lived their whole life and has more life to live, but then there’s no one there to share that life with,” volunteer services and community engagement director Josh Chartier said. “You need food, you need water, you need oxygen to survive, but you need the human part of it, too — the interaction, the emotional aspect of it, so that’s what we bring.”
Little Brothers requires volunteers to attend a two-hour orientation and undergo a background check, which can usually take about a week. Though there are no more December orientation sessions, there are still ways to help. Each elderly person the group works with will receive a personalized gift this year and there are still about 100 left to purchase, wrap and deliver to people across the city. More information is available on LittleBrothersChicago.org’s Elder Holiday Gift Program page, where people can sign up to purchase a specific gift or donate. Chartier said volunteers are also invited to the organization’s West Town headquarters during weekday business hours through Dec. 22 to help wrap presents, though the staff asks that potential wrappers email or call ahead.
With the new year approaching, regular volunteer opportunities with Little Brothers will ramp back up. Those interested in accompanying seniors to group events or committing to visit the same senior twice a month for at least a year can attend orientation sessions Jan. 6, 10 or 13.
“You’re able to make a direct impact on someone’s life in that moment,” Chartier said. “It’s not like (when) you make a contribution monetarily and it goes somewhere — that has tremendous value. But here your contribution is sitting right across the table from you.”
Gwendolyn Purdom is a RedEye freelancer.