Little Brothers of Montreal, a community organization that provides services for seniors, hosted a special Easter brunch for clients Sunday as a way to help the elders beat isolation.
One of the events was held for West Island clients at the Cedar Park Church in Pointe Claire. Volunteers like Tiffany White showed up to help.
“I think that there is a large aging population, especially in the suburbs areas,” she said. “It leads to certain isolated pockets of people… Families move to the city or even further away.”
According to Mélanie Korving, team coordinator for the West Island, there are 75 clients in that part of the city, but the number is growing.
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“A lot of people, once they retire, they kind of retreat into their homes,” she told Global News. “They have more and more issues, either with mobility or day-to-day chores.”
It’s something that weighs on the mind of some of the seniors at the brunch in Pointe Claire, including Antoinette Ebeid, who lost her husband nearly a year ago and doesn’t go out as much as she used to due to her own health concerns.
“Nobody calls you,” she said, fighting back tears. “Nobody asks, ‘do you need something?’ in the winter, and I don’t have support. I don’t want to cry. It’s very hard when you are alone.”
White said one of the biggest concerns from seniors is the fear of dying alone because they don’t have someone check on them.
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“They don’t want to be forgotten and someone finds them days later,” she said. “Just having a regular connection with somebody lets them know that somebody is aware of them, somebody will keep track of them as well, and somebody will miss them.”
So events like Sunday’s brunch make a huge difference, say seniors like Ebeid.
“We are together,” she said of the others at the brunch, grinning. “I see the grass, the trees, people. It’s very good.”
She said she owes her smile to the volunteers who she and other seniors do what little they can, despite meager resources.
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