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Adopt a grandparent today!

Photo: istockphoto.com/ladida

Many aid organizations focus on children or homeless people or victims of abuse—and they do need our help. But what about elderly people living on less than a dollar a day? More and more grandparents are becoming primary caregivers for their grandchildren, especially in developing countries where AIDS and emigration have created a missing generation of parents. “Imagine a long day starting at 5 a.m. and going until 11 p.m.; then add arthritis and grandchildren,” says David Clark, international program manager for UK-based Sponsor a Grandparent, a program in its 35th year that aims to combat poverty and isolation. The group supports 26,000 elderly people in 31 underdeveloped countries by providing food, clothing, medicine and shelter, and teaching them skills so they can support themselves.

Donations have helped start community activities like garden clubs and income-generation programs: In La Paz, Bolivia, grandparents produce and sell alpaca wool products and bread; in Lima, Peru, the elderly gather to discuss news events as part of a literacy program.

“Our future is an older future,” says Clark. “For me, it’s funny. You hear these statistics that there will be many more elderly. People forget that it will be them.”