Colombian in London

Volunteers Blogging

2007-07-27T17:15:00.000+01:00

This is our group of GoldStar volunteers, Paulina Arce Casillas, myself Maria Piedad Lopez and our manager, Frances Carlisle. We're busy blogging, as you can see!

You can see us at our training day on this video link too: http://www.c21vox.tv/programmes/full.php?id=819

Paulina has her own blog at: http://latinamericanvolunteers.blogspot.com/

I look forward to all your comments!

The Golden Years

2007-07-27T16:42:00.000+01:00

As promised in my last blog here are the pictures of the workshop carried out in June where 17 people attended. The information was about pension credit and the requirements to receive this benefit. We placed emphasis on National Insurance Numbers, as it's an essential in applying for Pension Credit. Most people have this card already, although it's important for us to inform people of the need to take out a NIN. The other issue we discussed was Housing Benefit and everything included in this benefit, we also explained who can apply and the conditions of this.

The main point was the information about the increase in rents and housing benefit every year, which the people didn't know about. These workshops on rights to benefits are especially for Latin American people aged 55+. We try through this work and other partnerships to draw attention to a community which is largely forgotten, and to offer them the opportunity to have a better quality of life.

If you want more information about this workshop or this kind of benefit for the elderly, you can access it via my blog, or you can call our offices.

LAWRS - 020 7336 0888. Natalia Perez is the Coordinator of the project on Housing and Development for the Elderly.

My volunteering projects

2007-07-11T14:03:00.000+01:00

I volunteer one day a week in a project advising elderly women about housing and their needs. The project has been very succesful lately, with workshops we've held in the 'Club de los Años Dorados' (The Golden Years Club). Lots of people attended, to hear about their rights to welfare and how the system works. They gave really positive feedback, asking for the workshops to be held even more frequently.

I'll revisit this in my next blog, as I think the information given is very important for the elderly, especially in our community. Photos will follow too!

My first day as a blogger

2007-06-08T12:22:00.000+01:00

I am excited learning different important thinks in Birmigham