The Town Hall of Torrejón de Ardoz, Alsa, and the Grandes Amigos Foundation jointly launch an awareness campaign on urban buses with the aim of promoting volunteering to accompany the elderly in the city experiencing unwanted loneliness. The buses on different urban lines in the city host a particular ‘perching’ campaign, consisting of information in the form of hangers promoting the new volunteering campaign of the Municipal Office for the Elderly in Loneliness.
Torrejón de Ardoz, March 24, 2025. The initiative was presented by Alejandro Navarro Prieto, Mayor of Torrejón, Mercedes Villegas, Director of the Grandes Amigos Foundation, Francisco Iglesias, CEO of Alsa, Rubén Martínez, Councilor for Welfare, Education, and Immigration, Ana Verónica González, Councilor for the Elderly, and María Amparo Abad, one of the elderly participants in the program.
The «Municipal Office for the Elderly in Loneliness» will celebrate its seventh anniversary next April, since its launch by the Town Hall of Torrejón de Ardoz, in collaboration with the Grandes Amigos Foundation in April 2018. Since then, more than 140 residents of the city participate in this program aimed at the elderly over 65 years old in the city who feel lonely, aiming to prevent their social isolation and improve their quality of life through various accompaniment activities at home and in residences, as well as inclusive leisure activities.
This service is carried out altruistically by volunteers, who accompany the elderly on walks, have coffee, or simply converse, and organize inclusive activities such as snacks, workshops, meetings, or cultural visits, among others. In addition to emotional support, which can be provided both in person at home or in residences, as well as by phone, they also accompany them to medical appointments and other various tasks.
The average profile of the elderly participant in the program is that of a woman, with an average age of 84 years, living alone at home, walking with insecurity (with a cane or walker), referred from Social Services, and receiving emotional support at home. By gender, 87% of the elderly participants in the program are women and 13% are men.
The program is coordinated by professional technical staff responsible for conducting an initial assessment, interviewing the elderly and volunteer candidates to understand the emotional needs and preferences of each elderly person, their life history, and their current context. The aim is to prioritize profile affinity and geographic proximity so that new connections become lasting and quality friendships with mutual benefits. This coordination is complemented by periodic monitoring of participants and joint technical intervention with professionals from the Municipal Social Services Center, if necessary.
To request this type of support or become a volunteer, simply go to the Municipal Office for the Elderly in Loneliness of Amigos de los Mayores en Soledad, located at the Polyvalent Lawyers of Atocha Center (11 B London Street, 2nd floor) on Thursdays from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., by appointment at 683 269 806.
People wishing to volunteer must be of legal age and registered in Torrejón de Ardoz. They must fill out a simple form and can choose the weekly time they want to spend with the elderly person, with a minimum of 2 hours per week.
The Mayor, Alejandro Navarro, thanked «the volunteers in the program, who selflessly work to make our elderly in loneliness a little happier, and the Grandes Amigos organization for the great work they do daily coordinating the program. A program funded by the Town Hall of Torrejón de Ardoz, with more than 140 participants, aimed at preventing social isolation and improving the quality of life of those elderly people who find themselves in some form of unwanted loneliness in the city.» He also thanked ALSA «for their involvement in the development of this volunteering promotion campaign, as a demonstration of their social commitment and public service vocation as an organization.»
Councilor for Welfare, Rubén Martínez, added that «the Municipal Office for the Elderly in Loneliness is an extremely positive institutional resource for the elderly in Torrejón, a group of citizens we value greatly. An intergenerational project that brings reciprocal benefits: the elderly person gains affection, quality of life, self-esteem, autonomy, and social participation, while the volunteer receives love, experience, and satisfaction in contributing to improving the lives of the elderly people in their city.
The councilor recalled that «with this campaign, we encourage many new volunteers to join this municipal program, which complements other programs we develop at the Town Hall such as the Mejor comemos en casa program, offering home meals to the elderly, dependents, or those with special needs, the Psychological Support Service, consisting of individual support sessions on issues affecting the emotional well-being of the elderly, such as depressive and anxious symptoms, memory problems, losses and mourning, sleep problems, pain management, and social isolation, or the free home municipal Teleassistance service, among others.»
The Director of the Grandes Amigos Foundation, Mercedes Villegas, highlighted «the commitment of the Town Hall of Torrejón de Ardoz and ALSA to preventing and addressing loneliness, a growing challenge that can affect the health of the entire population, especially the elderly. We want to thank ALSA for their involvement in such a powerful awareness campaign as this ‘perching’ campaign, through which not only new volunteers and elderly people will join the accompaniment and socialization programs of Grandes Amigos, but also many more people who see the campaign will naturally become aware of loneliness and acquire healthy habits in their daily lives, such as building intergenerational bonds and socializing in the neighborhood.»
Mercedes Villegas added that «likewise, this initiative is another example of the solid, lasting, and fruitful commitment of the Town Hall of Torrejón to projects that are necessary and beneficial for society as a whole, and specifically for the elderly population, such as the one we have been developing for so many years from Grandes Amigos hand in hand with the municipality. This continued support bears fruit in the daily reality of Torrejón, such as improving the well-being of many elderly people at risk or in situations of loneliness and increasing citizen participation through volunteering.»