Clothing for Old Age

The saddest thing in the world is not poverty; it's loss of dignity.
Jonathan Glennie

According to the latest study conducted in India, 65% of the elderly people are poor with no source of income.

In India, the social security is very weak compared to countries in the world. Only 26.3 per cent are financially independent and 20.3 per cent are partially dependent on others, but 53.4 per cent or the majority of elderly population is entirely dependent on children for economic security. Lack of affordable old age homes, where people can live independently, is also a problem. The fancy ones are too expensive and beyond the reach of an average Indian person from the middle classes.

Every so often, there are reports in newspapers about elderly parents being mistreated by their children as looking after dependent parents is low priority compared to educating children, when income sources dry up.

There are some cases of snatching their belongings, even savings, useful legal documents etc and forced to live life amidst poverty.

Our mission is to give their dignified look back in the form of new and clean clothes for old aged people.

Distribution of cloth to old people started in the year 2011-12 and from then on it has been going on every year. Every year, this program is being conducted in December, as the temperatures drop during this time. Proper clothing to the elderly is extremely valuable in winter.

With the help of the donors, in 2012-13, we distributed sarees to around 40 women. We are very grateful to the donors and the recipients of sarees were also very happy for the sarees they received.

Cloth distribution program in the year 2012 was useful for the old people. We had distributed 40-50 sarees for the women along with Provision Bag, one saree each along with one Provision Bag. Provision Bag contains basic items which a person needs the most, like bathing soap, washing detergents both for cleaning utensils and clothes, coconut oil, toothpaste, and shampoo packets.

In 2013-14, we have ordered around 75 handwoven sarees from Kakinada which were distributed to the 75 women along with the Provision bag, bringing tears of joy on the happy smiling faces.