2023-11-16 20:07:27
BELOVED BLACKSMITH
Updated Thursday, November 16, 2023 – 19:07
The Grandes Amigos Foundation is one of the projects that benefit from RECICLOS, the Return and Reward System (SDR) developed by Ecoembes
Dolores and Cristina in one of their meetings.Fundacin Grandes Amigos
Cristina had been thinking about volunteering for some time and decided to take the step shortly after losing her grandmother. “I told myself that, ‘now that I can no longer help my grandmother, I am going to help other older people,'” explains the young woman. “I searched on the Internet and on the website of the Community of Madrid I found the Great Friends Foundation. After registration, they followed a training, an interview “and a few weeks later they introduced me to Dolores.”
Dolores, for her part, doesn’t remember exactly where she first heard about Grandes Amigos, although she knows that “it had to be on the radio or television. I picked up the number, I called and they immediately sent Sara, who is a heaven: very educated and very prudent, something very important to me -although then I am somewhat of a hooligan-. Little by little we started connecting and for me she is now one of the family.” says Dolores, a resident of the Madrid district of La Latina, who recently turned 92 and has an inexhaustible desire to do things. “I like to learn and be useful, when “I’m not doing anything, I don’t feel good, it makes me feel even more tired.”
Since the foundation put them in contact, every Thursday afternoon -when the novel ends- Cristina and Dolores spend time together, they talk… “Above all I speak, she speaks what I let her,” Dolores points out. In addition, Cristina also lends a hand with the procedures, even though Dolores handles new technologies well, “I even pay for Bizum,” she emphasizes. “But a lot of help is needed because not everyone can do it. Young people can help older people a lot in that sense.”
Founded in 2003, Grandes Amigos is a state-level volunteer NGO dedicated to providing support (both in person and by telephone) to older people and other groups at risk or in a situation of loneliness. The foundation also has ‘digital kilometer 0 workshops’, an initiative created precisely to break the technological gap.
This foundation is one of the projects that benefit from citizens’ efforts to recycle, thanks to RECICLOS, the Return and Reward System (SDR) developed by Ecoembes. Present in all Autonomous Communities, users can obtain sustainable prizes and incentives for social causes by recycling their cans and plastic beverage bottles in the yellow containers.
Thus, from Ecoembes they remember that with this return and reward system (SDR), users obtain points for recycling that translate into donations to different social and environmental causes such as Children’s Villages, the Spanish Association Against Cancer or the Red Cross. In this way, in addition to collaborating with social and environmental associations, the circularity of packaging is promoted.
Risk factor
In the case of Grandes Amigos, they work to Prevent unwanted isolation by creating bonds of neighborliness, mutual support and friendship, while seeking to raise awareness in society about the importance of supporting dignified aging. In fact, loneliness and social isolation are already considered global public health problems. The WHO considers this situation – defined as a self-perceived feeling of dissatisfaction with the frequency of social contacts – as a risk factor for health, as worrying as smoking, obesity or pollution.
“Social ties are not only important, I would say they are necessary,” explains Sara, responsible for social development in the La Latina district. “Humans are social beings, dependent on each other; that contact is important throughout life. In Grandes Amigos We put the focus on older people “because we think that at that stage several factors come together that make it a little more difficult to establish links and give them continuity, although the feeling of loneliness is not exclusive to old age.”
“Also, in reality when you volunteer you think that you are going to help someone else, but it is something that also helps you,” says Cristina. “I am learning a lot from Dolores, It surprises me every day I come and I love to keep coming back. here.” In fact, she recommends that others encourage themselves and take the step to volunteer. Dolores also recommends that, like she did, other older people call and request accompaniment. “Of course, don’t take Cristina.”
To use RECICLOS and accumulate points that promote the circularity of packaging and collaborate in social causes, citizens only have to download the free RECICLOS application and scan the barcode of the can or plastic bottle that they want to recycle before throw it in the bucket. Once on the street, when you go to the yellow container with your packaging bag, you must deposit it and scan the QR code on the container. By using the yellow containers, users will obtain points, called RECYCLES, which they can exchange for different rewards.
Circular Economy Series carried out in collaboration with the Ecoembes organization.
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