Giving the Gift of Love to Once-Lonely Seniors During the Holidays

MONTREAL, Dec. 19 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Once again this year, Little Brothers will be reaching out to elderly Quebecers during the holidays and treating them to some very special moments of love and togetherness. On December 24 and 25, hundreds of volunteers from Little Brothers will be visiting with shut-ins around the province and holding the organization's traditional Christmas dinner in downtown Montreal.

"The generosity of people who volunteer their time or support our work with their donations is the reason we can see to it that every one of the 1,650 Great Friends in the Little Brothers family is remembered over the holidays," said Caroline Sauriol, Executive Director of Little Brothers. "The only way we can reverse the trend of growing social isolation among the senior population is for everyone to pull together and take concrete action, so that our Great Friends feel they are still important to someone. We need your help, now and all year long, to make their final years happy and comfortable."

The holidays can be a particularly trying time for people who are lonely. But Little Brothers is there to make sure nobody gets left behind. The organization acts as an extended family for seniors who do not have a support system they can rely on for comfort and affection. Home visits and celebrations of all kinds will be held in 15 communities across Quebec where Little Brothers maintains an active presence, namely Laval, Lévis, Longueuil, Lower Laurentians, Montreal (Centre, Pointe-de-l'Ile, Sud-Ouest, West Island), Quebec City, Rimouski, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Sud-de-Lanaudière, Thetford Mines and Trois-Rivières.

VIP guests to join Little Brothers?Montreal on December 25
For the 34th year in a row, Le Centre Sheraton Montreal will be serving a complimentary Christmas dinner to 450 Great Friends and Little Brothers volunteers. Marguerite Blais, the Quebec Minister Responsible for Seniors and Informal Caregivers, will join Béatrice Picard, Little Brothers' provincial patron for the past 12 years, and Marie-Thérèse Fortin, the organization's spokesperson since 2017, to share some memorable moments with these honoured guests. The day's festivities will include a traditional holiday feast, toe-tapping music and plenty of TLC.

About Little Brothers
Drawing on 57 years of experience working with lonely seniors aged 75 and older, Little Brothers is committed to making the social isolation of the elderly a thing of the past and to sharing special moments of love, joy and tenderness to make them feel alive and important until the very end. Over time, more than 8,500 elderly Quebecers have had life-changing experiences with Little Brothers, knowing that they matter and that they will have someone to turn to throughout their twilight years. The average time Great Friends are served by Little Brothers is four years.

There are currently close to 640,000 seniors 75 and older living in Quebec. Some 55,000 are at risk of living a socially isolated existence, often suffering behind closed doors. The proportion of seniors in the province is projected to climb to 14.7% by 2036, making Little Brothers' efforts to fight social isolation more essential and necessary than ever. To learn more, make a donation or become a Little Brothers volunteer, go to littlebrothers.ca or call 1-866-627-8653. Little Brothers is accredited under the Imagine Canada Standards Program, which attests to the organization's quality, efficiency and transparency.

Media Advisory
Representatives of the media are invited to a press briefing during which Marguerite Blais, the Quebec Minister Responsible for Seniors and Informal Caregivers, will make an announcement concerning the social isolation of older adults.

SOURCE Les Petits Frères