Help 50 Elderly People Not Lose Their Home

The past couple of months at San José Home were definitely special. Due to the pandemic, many activities had to be canceled for over two years, and the new life in quarantine was not the same. During 2022, slowly but surely, we started to get a few of the old habits and activities back, still following protocols and keeping the residents safe. 

This year has certainly been a new start for San José Home. Nonetheless, we are still fighting the effects of the pandemic. The structure of the Home has endured decades of life and is unfortunately not at its best. We are facing urgent repairs and remodeling to ensure life at San José is safe and sound for every resident. In the middle of this emergency, however, we never stopped catering to our adults. In fact, our team is stronger than ever and filled with hope. 

One of the tasks we had been wishing to be able to accomplish was recovering the garden at San José. Having a self-sustaining source of healthy and good quality food is essential for us and especially for the residents at the Home. This unique and historical long-stay residence, established in 1935, has definitely seen some rough days, but the will from all the workers to bring it back to life has been the source of its rebirth. Corporate partners like DHL, helped us guarantee a healthy place for our seniors. This garden had stopped being cared for since 2021, as the effects of the pandemic hit especially hard at San José Home. Today, a small but important piece of the residence is back. 

We also celebrated Spring Day Festival at San José Home. Together with our volunteers, we welcomed the spring season with a beautiful evening. Our residents had the opportunity to dance, laugh, and have a great time. The first day of spring is a wonderful and special day in Argentina, where family and friends get together and make plans outdoors. At San José, we always try to give our residents, who are all over 60 years old, this sort of new opportunities to enlighten their days and bring them joy. Having celebrations like this one was also a privilege we couldn´t afford for the past two years, due to the dangers of Covid-19.  

With the emergency San José Home is unfortunately facing, we are truly in need of your collaboration. This place is a Home for dozens of people, and we know we can save it, but we can only do it together. Help us save San José Home and keep bringing light into these people´s lives.  

Sincerely,

The Mensajeros Family.

San José has been the Home of dozens of people since 1935. It has played a very important role in protecting the rights of elderly people with fewer economic resources who are victims of abandonment, loneliness, and many other circumstances strictly related to social vulnerability.

Our seniors are a fundamental part of our community: they are leaders, caregivers, and guides. They carry our history and tradition and represent our most rooted values. But in reality, they need us as much as we do.

Today, San José Home keeps serving these people thanks to the work of a professional team made up of psychogerontologists, doctors, psychologists, social workers, and nutritionists, as well as nurses, cooks, volunteers, and many others.

We keep working towards giving people the possibility of a better quality of life at a stage where they are sometimes unable to provide for themselves. At this point in someone´s life, keeping oneself active and energetic can be challenging, especially if the necessary resources are not easily available. For the elderly, getting involved in diverse activities, surrounded by others, has proved to be the key to positive aging.

We try our best to offer residents a wide range of innovative activities and opportunities. On July 11^th, Fundación Mapfre, together with 6 volunteers, visited San José Home, to carry out a spa-day for the residents, who were excited to get manicures and try out different hairstyles. Following sanitary protocols, everyone got to share a snack to finish off the evening. It was overall a fun and engaging experience.

On the same note, on May 5^th, Fundación Mapfre, together with 8 volunteers, also visited the Home, this time with the aim of fixing and improving the central garden, carrying out cleaning, pruning, and weeding tasks. This type of projects is what keeps San José in optimal conditions and the residents happy.

We wish to keep making San José an ideal and very special Home. Unfortunately, like everything in life, it comes with its own set of challenges.

During the pandemic, our main focus was to isolate the Home to protect the residents and their health from Covid-19. Thanks to those efforts, we have been able to get through 2020 and 2021 with great pride. Now that the virus alert has become more muted, we have been able to shift our focus and undertake other responsibilities. Major repairs and remodeling are to be carried out as soon as possible, which is why we need you more than ever to face this urgent situation.

We hope we can keep counting on you to make sure this Home, our Home, can flourish and bring on happiness and joy. 

The Mensajeros Family.

Hogar San José Welcomes Bishop Martin Fassi with open arms for an evening of devotion and adoration.

In many people´s lives, religion is a crucial pillar. Attending their most urgent needs, includes not disregarding their faith. Instead, promoting a space in which they can practice their beliefs safely and comfortably is key.

Providing these opportunities proves to be a beneficial tool to care for people´s mental health and well-being, especially when it comes to older people at social risk.

During the evening, many residents were able to enjoy a ceremony of veneration, as well as spend time with the Bishop, talk about their faith, sing together, and unwind.

Due to pandemic restrictions, such activities were unfortunately out of reach for a long time. Luckily, as we venture into this new reality, and better understand the future of Covid-19, opportunities like this one are finally sprouting.

Thanks to the hard work of plenty of volunteers, we were able to live through the pandemic rather calmly and keep the virus away from those who endured the most risk by following strict protocols and making it our number one priority. It is with pure conviction that we can affirm our commitment and devotion have saved lives and will continue to do so.

All this progress would not be possible without your generous and thoughtful support. Thanks to you, we continue to build our foundation stronger and stronger to care for the people of Hogar San José.

From the bottom of our hearts: thank you.

Mensajeros de la Paz’s Team.

Hogar San José installs solar panels to pursue sustainability and care for the environment.

The pandemic brought multiple challenges to overcome with hard work. Hogar’s work continues its efforts after almost two years of the pandemic to promote the physical and mental well-being of all the people who live at the Hogar.

Despite this circumstance, the project never lost sight of one of its programmatic challenges: promote the SDGs and be sustainable in the long term.

In collaboration with Ingenieros Sin Frontera Argentina, whose mission is Community Development, Sustainability, Participation, and Community Diversity, the investment of Cargill, and the coordination of Mensajeros de la Paz Argentina, Hogar San José installed solar panels on December 2021.

These panels have different benefits such as:

• produces renewable energy and abandonment,
• it is environmentally friendly, does not produce noise pollution, and is aligned with the SDGs,
• reduces electricity costs with low maintenance costs,

In the words of Hugo Catoni, Hogar San Jose’s director, “we are the first in the town of Tres de Febrero to have this type of technology. It is a significant step because it means a change in the economy of the Home very large, more sustainable. These panels promote the care and protection of nature and the environment and contribute to residents’ quality of life. Therefore the Home lived this installation with great joy and pride”.

This installation is a step towards a more sustainable future where all people have access to affordable, safe, sustainable, and modern energy without distinction of class or age. A more equitable world is possible and environmental action is fundamental in pursuing our mission.

Thank you for continuing to accompany us in our steps

Mensajeros de la Paz’s Team

Links:

• Director of HSJ Talking about the installation of solar panels

Elderly people are one of the groups of society at social risk, even worse during COVID 19 pandemic. For this reason, Mensajeros de la Paz Argentina has been working for 19 years on many projects to protect elderly person's rights. Mensajeros has been assisting and supporting this population in vulnerable situations or cases of they do not find appropriate support or enough care in their families. One of these projects is Hogar San José, founded in 1935 and currently leads by Mensajeros de la Paz Argentina. Hogar San José has a professional staff of doctors, social workers, psycho-gerontologists, and others that assist the 50 people living there.

Into the Hogar, many stories could inspire too many people. In this report, Mensajeros de la Paz Argentina wants to share with you and thank you for your support that helps these stories directly.

"One of the keys in Hogar San José is the joint work between the organisation, the family/referent and the resident. This key promotes a more comprehensive and favourable approach with all participants."

Maria

María has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the only person she has is her daughter. Maria said they decided to continue with activities inside and outside the project when they came to the Hogar. But with the pandemic context and limitation of several activities, it was challenging to do them. Nevertheless, Maria has kept participating in the literary workshop she used to go to at the University of La Matanza, but virtually via WhatsApp. In September 2020, Maria faced reality again after quarantine, accompanied by a professional, to attend a medical appointment.

"The organisation assists us. It helps to manage, through social and institutional areas, a PUAM (a minimum pension income), a medical insurance reference or a Unique Disability Certificate as appropriate"

Mabel and Mirta have no family members to take care of or support. Therefore, the role of Mesajeros in such circumstances is fundamental. During the interview, they said that Hogar San José is like their home, and for this reason, it called it (Hogar means Home in Spanish)

Thanks to your ongoing support as a Mensajeros de la Paz's Friend, it is possible to carry out all the organisation's projects. But mainly, thanks to the raise donations and other supplies, it has been possible to develop an improvement at the Hogar's coverture and work with this population that are stories of lives.