W�rzburg - Germany

This is an open letter written by an elderly lady, Anna, a patient in an institute for the elderly. It is not a letter of denouncement. Anna does not dwell on describing or criticising the conditions of the elderly in the institutions. Anna asks for friendship and commitment to alleviate the loneliness of the patients.

The letter of Anna is very simple and direct. It is a request for company, but also an offer of friendship that stresses the profound dignity of elderly patients. The proposal of the letter is not just about doing something - even though this is also important � but is above all the will to break the loneliness of those who are in the institutes and, very often, of those who are outside ! 

Novara - Italy

The letter is a proposal of friendship for all. It was born from the conviction that the elderly, even when they are patients in an institute, are a great ethical, human, civil, and solidarity resource and that they can be very useful.  

The proposal of this letter of Anna was collected by the movement "Long live the elderly�. The campaign which followed it, "An hour of time", is addressed to those, elderly and non-elderly, who live the experience of a bit of free time that the would like to fill usefully for the others. Often, in fact, there are human and affective energies that are not used. It seemed important to put together these energies with the enormous demand for friendship and closeness of the elderly in the institutes .

In these years we have seen how the friendship that the elderly in the institutes can offer are a beneficial answer to the loneliness or the poverty of relationships from which many young people and adults suffer in our society. 

Genova - Italy

The experience of groups of teenagers  who have begun to visit elderly patients is a very happy one . If the elderly receive joy and affection from the young people, it is also true for young people that having an elderly friend often means living an experience that helps them to grow, to mature, helps them understand the value of life. They find the grandfather or grandmother who they often do not have or the limitless affection that they often need so much .