MC Charity Foundation (the official name – M. Čiuželio labdaros ir paramos fondas) was established in 2014 aiming to help the most vulnerable members of our society who cannot take care of themselves.
During the first year of operations, we mostly focused our activities on the better medical care of premature babies and endowed the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Children’s Hospital, the affiliate of Vilnius University Hospital with the modern and long-term nursing technology and advanced equipment Lithuanian medical institutions could have only dreamt of. Since the beginning of 2016, we chose elderly people’s quality of life and their widely existing and further growing social isolation as the priority of our activities.
At present, Lithuania has more than half a million of population aged 60 or over. Based on the latest Global AgeWatch index data Lithuania ranks only 63rd out of 96 countries in terms of living conditions and welfare for the elderly people. The main problems which a person faces at the twilight of his life are social isolation, poverty and health issues related to old age. To contribute to the development and strengthening of social welfare, and inspired by the example of our colleagues in the UK, in 2016 we started „Sidabrine linija“ and became the first and the only in Lithuania providing free of charge befriending and support line for lonely elderly people. The number of registered users during the first half of a year at „Sidabrine linija“ reached almost six hundred – so many people we managed to find a new friend to talk to, and thanks to our volunteers and donors they all felt interested and important and needed to someone again.
In 2016, together with like-minded social partners, we initiated establishment of the Public Commission of Vilnius City Municipality „Age friendly Vilnius“ bringing the decade lasting World Health Organization’s movement „Age friendly country“ to our country. We believe other municipalities will follow soon the leading example of Vilnius, and Lithuania will eventually become an age friendly country.
We have also successfully implemented other social projects (to name a few): the interactive social event #Prisiliesk (#Touch), which aimed to draw public attention to the social problems of the elderly, the „7134 Smiles Challenge“ campaign, in the framework of which, promoting volunteerism and philanthropy ideas, we have raised „Sidabrine linija“ flag on Avicenna Peak (7134 m) in the Pamir Mountains; the communication campaign „Donate a Conversation“, during which we together with the public broadcaster and our media partner the Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT) spread the news about our new befriending and support line and invited fellow Lithuanians to make contributions and donate conversations for lonely elderly people; we built our relationships and developed close cooperation with the Centres of Social Services of Lithuanian municipalities, with public libraries, Medardas Čobotas Third Age University and the other social partners, fostering volunteering traditions in Lithuania and seeking more active participation of the elderly in public life.
We intend to continue developing our activities in this field in the future – to develop and provide new social services, to promote social business ideas and initiatives thus helping the most vulnerable members of our society.
We thank sincerely all our donors – companies, organizations and all private individuals of good will. Your contributions to the Foundation amounted to EUR 41 281 in 2016. It allowed us to implement our ideas, to grow and become stronger. We also expect your further support in the years to come.
After all, we are here to make the life worth living. Join us and let’s make the age friendly Lithuania together!