Valentine's message with heart cookies and greeting cards

EINDHOVEN - Over 3,500 Valentine's Day messages with a heartwarming surprise were sent to residents of 23 care facilities in Eindhoven. On Valentine's Day, the action of "Heart Warming Together" launched an initiative against loneliness and a call for more volunteers.

By Karin Rosendaal 

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All residents receive a bag of heart-shaped cookies, a card with a heartwarming poem and a heart as a greeting card. On the card, they write a wish and then hang it in the wishing trees located in all the homes.

Dinner with friend

Resident Gineke Roggen of Archipel Landrijt is the first to hang a wish in the tree: dinner with her friend Toon. ,,Toon visits me every Sunday, but I can hardly go outside because of the wheelchair. An Italian dinner together once would be very nice."

At Vitalis Peppelrode, the first wish is a picking garden. The resident often went on vacation to Switzerland and enjoyed the meadows with flowers. From his room he looks out on the garden and exactly there he wants a picking garden.

Heart under the belt

The Heart Warming Together action is a heart to heart for the 3,500 seniors in Eindhoven at the 23 residential care centers locations of Archipel, OKTOBER and Vitalis. The loneliness among this group is possibly even greater during this second wave of the coronavirus and lockdown, than during the first time.

It is an initiative of Together for Eindhoven. They provide connections between companies and social organizations with donations from the business community. Together they build a closer society where everyone can participate.

,,We are not going to solve loneliness with this action, but we are giving it the attention it needs this way. It's about the connection and attention for the residents. It's something different," says Judith Helderman, intermediary at Samen voor Eindhoven.

Fewer initiatives

,,And a little attention is welcome. At the first lockdown the cake was not even finished when the flowers were already there. There are now far fewer initiatives, while more can be done," says Saskia van Nieuwland, communications consultant at Archipel.

Corporate volunteers from ASML, DELA, NXP and Philips, among others, will grant the wishes. ,,The wishes we fulfill throughout the year. We look at what is already coronaproof possible. Walking together, cooking together or video calling or a wish of your own," says Marbritta van Boldrik, communications manager at Samen voor Eindhoven.

10,000 heart cookies

Social organizations involved are Lunetzorg and foundation Uit de Buurtfabriek. Clients of Lunetzorg have baked 10,000 Sweethearts heart cookies at the day care of Groendomein Wasven. The wishing trees came from the Uit de Buurtfabriek. Ron Krielen, manager: , "The trees are a design by Fanny Griveau and made in our wood workshop by people with a distance to the labor market."

The action is also a call for more volunteers. Van Boldrik: "During the first lockdown, there was a lot of sympathy and there were many volunteers. Now, at the second time, the requests for help are increasing, but the number of volunteers is decreasing."

Van Nieuwland: "We cannot use all our volunteers. It's a lot of older people who are vulnerable and more fearful of the virus."

"But we can capitalize on that with our corporate volunteers. They are generally younger and less hesitant," Helderman said.