Age Care has been helping the non-Spanish-speaking elderly community on the coast for 16 years, and all its work is free. "They are financed by this charity shop here, in Calahonda," explained the Foreigners' Councillor, Arancha López (Cs). "Everything you see is donated, and all the people who work in the shop are volunteers. No one gets paid to come and help," said the current President of the collective, Tom Tarr. They sell second-hand items that come to them through donations from people, and they manage it with volunteers, who come to help by dedicating time, once or twice a week, so that they can carry out all this work," added López.

The volunteers are a fundamental part of this solidarity project, which currently serves more than 200 people in the town. "It's a very nice job that, even if you don't know much English, helps you to continue learning, besides helping people," said Age Care coordinator and volunteer Larysa Blai. "Here, we work with our hearts to help the elderly," she added.

The work of Age Care

The association helps the foreign people's elderly community in tasks such as assisting in medical emergencies by taking the elderly to the hospital, processing any document, or solving doubts related to public administrations, among others. "It is one of the most important associations in managing foreign elderly people who often find themselves completely alone. We have to support them in every way we can as the Social Services cannot act in the same way, either because of the language barrier or the foreigners don't register in the municipality," said Katja Thirion, a Mijas Foreigners Department technician.

The shop and the bookshop help the association with fundraising to continue its work. "There are interesting things, second-hand things that are practically new, and we also collaborate with the association", said one of the customers, Juan Carlos Bo. They are open from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.
 

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