SOS, Support Our Seniors
In Newfoundland, two women have established an organization to support seniors who are working into their seventies. The name of the organization is SOS, Support Our Seniors. The aim is to raise awareness about the hardships facing seniors. Both women are in their seventies and like a growing number of seniors are forced to work to make ends meet. Mary Moylan, one of the founders of SOS, said the aim of founding SOS is to end the silence and remove the shame of living in poverty, and give a stronger voice to seniors, particularly single women.
In a news release issued in August 2019 announcing the launch of SOS, the women stated:
“We are presently gathering stories of poverty and deprivation and demand that more attention and resources are utilized for seniors, particularly women, who have worked hard all their lives and now find themselves viewed as charity cases utilizing food banks and community shelters.
“We have talked to others like ourselves working as cleaning women, retail clerks, baristas and home care workers. It’s time to remove the shame of this impoverishment and bring dignity and equality to our most invisible and worthy citizens, many of whom have spent much of their lives in caring for their families with their labour uncompensated.”
Seniors are showing that they are a force to be reckoned with. They are upholding the right to security and dignity in retirement and demanding decent housing, pensions for all and modern seniors’ care. By speaking in their own name, seniors are making their claim on what is theirs by right and bringing forward the crucial task of organizing to take control of those things that affect their lives.
(With files from the Telegram)