The year 2017 was a time of regional development and new initiatives for us. We progressed it further with Sidabrine linija (the Silver Line) – befriending and support line for the lonely and isolated elderly people we launched in 2016. It grew in almost every possible aspect including geographic coverage, total number of registered callers and volunteers as well as time spent talking and telling endless stories to each other.

Last year was an exceptional one not only for the achievements of Sidabrine linija, but also for increase of brand awareness and trust gained: we raised so far the largest amount of annual support from various sponsors, and Mr Linas Kukuraitis, the Minister of Social Security and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, became our patron. Additionally, we established two regional representative offices in Varėna and Kėdainiai to strengthen our representation and cooperation with the local social partners. Last, but not least, we initiated several new projects: (i) in preparation for the coming centenary of the restored independent state of Lithuania we started the “100 Years Together” project of artistic visualizations, revealing the memories, experiences and life stories of the contemporaries of the Republic of Lithuania and their relatives through photographs and documentary images, (ii) in compliance with our vision to become the center of origination, development and financing for social innovations, we contributed to the ChangeMakers'ON social innovation and entrepreneurship program and its hackathon, and (iii) at the end of the year, in cooperation with the shopping and leisure center Panorama and BENU pharmacies, we made unexpected Christmas gifts to 16 Sidabrine linija callers of 80-90 years old in Vilnius.

Sidabrine linija (the Silver Line)

Last year we continued to paint Lithuania in color circles – we managed to enter all 60 Lithuanian municipalities, i.e. at the end of the year, we enjoyed having registered users in each and every local municipality. The total number of registered befriending callers increased to 1,070 or +89% versus 2016. The biggest breakthrough happened in Naujoji Akmenė (+1,200%), Druskininkai (+700%) and Zarasai (+600%), while among the TOP 3 cities with the largest number of Sidabrine linija users, Vilnius took over the leading position from Kaunas (187 vs. 183 users), while Šiauliai remained in the stable third place (56 users).

In total, in 2017, 768 befriending pairs talked 4,878 times (+325% compared to 2016), and these conversations lasted for 129,112 minutes (+316% compared to 2016). This proves to us the greatest need of our service in Lithuania, while the statistics communicate the apparent social impact achieved on the reduction of loneliness among old age people.

In September, we signed a cooperation agreement with the Klaipėda University John Paul II Center for Christian Studies so that the students from the Spiritual Counselling and Assistance second cycle study program could practice their skills in Sidabrine linija. This allowed us to expand the range of help available to elderly people – spiritual counselors provide their assistance to the patients with terminal and chronic diseases and their families as well as those experiencing emotional crisis or suffering from various addictions.

100 Years Together

In 2018, Lithuania celebrates the centenary of its restored independent state. Today it is a free and modern country creating its unique history. A history that is being created daily by millions of its fellow citizens. Some of them have been together for as much as a hundred years.

In preparation for the anniversary, in cooperation with the photographer Monika Požerskytė Kalvelė, the film director Edita Kabaraitė and film production company Artbox, last year we initiated and launched the “100 Years Together” project of artistic visualization that shares the memoirs, experiences and life stories of the contemporaries of the Republic of Lithuania – live witnesses of history – and their families through photographs and documentary images. Authentic stories of the centenarians reveal how the major events of the Lithuanian state changed the destinies of its people, and how we, the people of Lithuania, have changed together with our country in the past hundred years.

Financing

In 2017, we raised EUR 79,159 of support in total: 15% of the amount was granted by individuals (25% more than in 2016), 50% by corporate donors and various organizations (26% more than in 2016), and 35% by state and municipal authorities (for the first time). Individuals mostly contributed through the aukok.lt donation platform and by assigning to us 2% of their paid personal income tax. In the four municipalities we won tenders for partial financing, while the Government Office of the Republic of Lithuania provided partial support for the implementation of the “100 Years Together” project.

Companies and organizations remain our main sponsors: their support accounts for more than 76% of all support received by the foundation from the beginning of its activities; the remaining 24% are distributed in equal parts between individuals and state institutions.

We are especially delighted by the recurring sponsors: those who have granted their support multiple times. The number of donors who supported us more than once increased by 40% in 2017 compared to 2016 and amounted to 11% of all our sponsors (in 2016 – 7.8%). The most active sponsor has granted his support as many as eight times. We are sincerely grateful to him and all our donors and supporters.