Elderly Poor Worldwide Have Benefited from Unbound for 35 years

Most of us are familiar with late-night TV ads imploring us to sponsor a young victim of world poverty by sending a regular donation that would go to improving the child’s life. It will likely come as a surprise, however, that Unbound, the most well-known non-profit in the business of matching the world’s neediest children to American benefactors, also connects donors to impoverished elders — one of the most marginalized groups of the human family.

Beginnings

Started as the Christian Foundation for Children by four siblings of the Hentzen family in 1981, the nonprofit based in Kansas City added the Elder Program to its mission three years later, becoming the first organization to aid needy adults over 60.

The name of the organization was officially changed to Unbound on January 1, 2014. A year earlier, Bob Hentzen had explained what the new name would represent: “We walk side-by-side with people who dream of freeing themselves from poverty, as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency and build strong communities. Our new name sums up our work.” After Bob died in October 2013 at the age of 77, the current president and CEO, Scott Wasserman, pointed out that rather than a bunch of initials, what “Bob wanted was a single word capturing the essence of Catholic social teaching and empowering the poor.”

35 Years Serving 65,000 

Forbes magazine recently reported that since the Unbound’s Elder Program began 35 years ago, it has connected 65,000 senior adults living in extreme poverty and isolation across 18 countries in the developing world with sponsors in the United States. The Unbound website, explains that sponsorship gives those aging adults access to medical care, nutritious food, support groups, recreational activities and fellowship in the Unbound community.

Lasting Relationships

The Forbes article offered a touching example of the extent of that community through the 20-year-long story of donor Tom Slattery, an IBM executive, and recipient Francesca, a then 84-year-old woman who lived in a hut in the Philippines. When Tom’s wife chose to sponsor a child in 1996, Tom was struck by the information Unbound also had on hundreds of older individuals who needed just as much help as the children. After reading about Francesca, he decided to sponsor her, figuring she might live a handful more years into her late 80s.

“The joke was on me,” Slattery recently told Forbes magazine. Francesca lived to be 105! And through two decades Tom and Francesca corresponded, shared photos, extended condolences for family losses and kept each other in their prayers — long distance. They eventually met when Slattery joined one of Unbound’s awareness trips to the Philippines in 2015 just after his wife died. He found Francesca living in a shack with no electricity or running water. “And there she was smiling and happy, singing a song. It was incredible,” said Slattery.

When her hut was destroyed by a typhoon, Francesca was forced to move in with her son. Although she asked for nothing, Tom found out through an Unbound staffer that rebuilding her hut would only cost a few hundred dollars. Without hesitation, he donated the cost for her new home. Francesca died two years later.

Increasing Need

The National Institute on Aging recently reported that loneliness is a huge threat to public health, especially for seniors. At the same time, elderly populations around the world are reaching their highest numbers in history. In 2015, the U.N. projected that by 2050, 80 percent of the world’s senior population—an estimated 1.7 billion people 60 and older — will live in less developed regions. The connection Tom and Francesca developed miles and lifestyles apart can alleviate some of the loneliness and abandonment elder individuals are experiencing here in the U.S. and throughout the world.

“Unbound found that connectedness is key when addressing this loneliness epidemic–pairing elders with neighbors and friends in their local communities, as well as a supporter from around the world who knows their story and encourages them,” says Melissa Velazquez, International Program Director at Unbound. She cites follow-up interviews within the organization that involved 300 randomly selected elders sponsored for at least two years and 300 who are on the waiting list to be sponsored. “A key finding was that sponsored elders experience a lower sense of emptiness, less frequent feelings of rejection and fewer moments of missing people being around,” said Velazquez.

More than 30,000 elders across Latin America, Africa and Asia are sponsored through Unbound. Greatnonprofits.org designates Unbound a top-rated 2019 nonprofit, with its highest ranking of 5 stars. Donor review after donor review says pretty much what Slattery, now in his 70s, said of his experience sponsoring Francesca: The benefits have been far greater for him than the cost of what he gave.