Helping others

Both Manuela and I are used to being there for others, and we have seen much of the care for others go into decline over the past years. Not for one single reason of course, yet the loneliness that is prevalent in the twighlight years is not being really addressed by society in any substantive way that can be measured. Lack of funding from the government, care provisions being stretched to breaking point by funding shortages and poor training and long hours for those brave enough to take on a job in this sector amongst the obvious reasons. Also the fact that so many people have lived beyond their expected ages (which is of course a good thing) means that one to one care is almost impossible unless you have huge personal savings.

We aren’t pretending that we have all the answers or solutions for this issue by the way. The solutions are not so simple however, nor are they purely financially based. We believe that much more work needs doing around the issues of isolation, poor health in older age and preparing for these in advance. Our idea for a living community is based predominantly on knowing how profound lack of connectedness and community can be. The understanding of what health provisions really help older people are not truly known, even by GP’s who have to run their own practices as business managers, rather than health care providers. And the government has made the health services into a fight for resources whilst administration staff grow in ever more restructuring attempts to control the ‘Issues’. There are often many issues arising when one lives alone, even more impactive when that occurs without choice, planning or as we lose the ability to do what we did in our youth. For these reasons we hope that our ideas will be recognised as somewhat unique and innovative.

When you come to the Share-It Community we aren’t offering each member a chance to become lazy or reliant on others doing everything for you. We aren’t going to be a waited on service clearing up after you and at your beck and call…. What we are going to offer you, for an agreed upon (by the co-operative community) financial outlay, is a stress free living arrangement. One that is going to take on the challenges of each member as they grow into more mature years, whilst sharing the activities and responsibilities in ways that free you to relax and enjoy the company of others and co-creative ventures of the community. We hope to create a space that you feel at home in, whilst taking off your shoulders the total responsibilities for running a home and feeding yourself. A place to learn new things without having to enrol in expensive classes, like languages, crafts and sustainable living. We hope to give you experiences in collaboration that will keep you both active in body as in mind, filling your days with joy rather than solitude and fear.

We really hope that you see the courage to step up to this challenge in our Share-It Community. We can’t do this without you, and we hope that you will have the right disposition to caring for others too. When we act in unison we can achieve the things that singularly we couldn’t, nothing gets done unless we are united in our purpose. We are in Italy now doing the groundwork, we hope that you will come and share the journey with us. The future will be great if we share the abundance with one another, so get in touch.

Manuela and Peaceful x