In collaboration with Chums | Chums recently hosted a competition called “Rewards for Community Heroes,” which looked at the older people in our lives who might not get recognition for the work they do to benefit our lives, and the winners were recently announced.
The public voted for their #ChooseYourCommunityHero, to help recognize the older generation’s contribution to life and the community around them. There were loads of entries and you can find the winners and the amazing reasons why they won here:
Supporting, recognizing and celebrating the older generation is really important. They’ve likely given a lot to their community and the people around them over their lives and I think we all know, have experienced with ourselves or loved ones, that getting older isn’t always easy.
Maybe you know someone who’s always happy to help or lend a hand? Or an elderly neighbour does a lot of charity work? Perhaps someone you know created care packages or gift boxes for special occasions (like Ruth above!) or hosts a weekly class or book club? We all know someone who deserve praise and recognition for well, being awesome!
So today we’re going to look at a range of different ways in which you can value and support elderly people in your community and give back!
Photo by Austin Kehmeier on Unsplash
Write a piece about them in your local newspaper
In our village, we have a village newspaper with information on classes, shops and anything going on. If you have something similar where you live, this might be a lovely way to acknowledge their hard work but writing to the paper and asking if you can provide a piece in the next issue all about them!
Create a self care package for them
Anyone who’s always on the go helping other people definitely needs to prioritize self care and unsurprisingly, it’s always those people that put everyone else’s needs before their own. Promote some self care to them by creating a self care package for them to enjoy. Self care for senior citizens is really important!
Ask them if they need any errands run
It never hurts to ask, especially if you’re going out anyway. Not everything is accessible to everyone, so these people in your community might need more help than you think. So if you’re going to the shop anyway, ask if they need anything to help them out.
Offer to help them
If they’re the ones always helping others, the perhaps it would be nice if you could help them for a change! If they do charity work, ask if you can lend a hand. If they run a class, maybe offer to bring refreshments. Obviously this will depend on the circumstances but everyone is happy with a helping hand.
Photo by krakenimages on Unsplash
I’ve never had that community aspect in my life in where I live. Before I moved to Lincolnshire, I lived in Essex and there was absolutely no community vibe whatsoever. There were a few neighbours we got on with but other than that, community didn’t exist.
Having moved to a village, community is much more important. Like I mentioned above, we have a village newspaper with all important classes, information and dates within in.
Our close we live on are all really friendly and know each other (we’re yet to meet some of the neighbours though) and there’s even a BOOK CLUB. Yes, I will be joining as soon as I can.
All the members of your community are important and there will likely be many older people who really have done their part and contributed loads to your community, which is amazing.
