THE ELDERLY PROJECT

The Elderly Project is made up of one full-time and one part-time coordinator and over 100 volunteers who serve close to 200 elderly persons in the downtown Montreal area. Many of these friendly visitors are McGill University students who generously volunteer their time and energy. The Elderly Project is currently in its thirty second year of servicing seniors.

We arrange weekly home visits to seniors and accompaniments to hospital and other appointments. A friendly favour service arranges for volunteers to run errands for housebound seniors. We regularly organize social events for our volunteers and elderly friends. In addition, staff is on hand to provide information and referrals on a variety of seniors' issues and services. 

Started in 2003, The Elderly Project now has a new computer and Internet program that teaches seniors the basics of these technologies. A volunteer is matched with a senior and every other week they meet at the senior's house with a laptop that has generously been donated by Reboot Montreal. As with all The Yellow Door's services, this program is free and caters to seniors in the downtown Montreal area. The objective of the project is to introduce basic computing and Internet skills as well as more advanced skills such as electronic mail. Interested in volunteering or enrolling in the program? Please visit the Access Internet program website!

All these services seek to decrease the sense of isolation experienced by many inner city elderly and to help in preventing premature institutionalization. Do you know anyone in need of our services?  Would you like to become a volunteer?

The goals of the Yellow Door Elderly Project demonstrate our desire to accomplish our mission in the community:

To promote the kind of relationship between youth and seniors that nurtures a sense of awareness and responsibility toward the aged.

• To provide a practical community experience for the helping professionals of tomorrow.

• To counteract the growing isolation and loneliness felt by many seniors.

• To understand through firsthand experience the personal, social, economic, and political concerns of today’s urban elderly.

• To enable elderly residents of the inner city to maintain a viable life in the community by working to prevent premature institutionalization.

• To inform and to empower the elderly, and to uphold their sense of dignity and respect as individuals and as important members of our society.
  
   

Please visit the Yellow Door History page to read about the origins of the Elderly Project