Calp and ONCE have agreed to cooperate in the "Campaign against Loneliness", a voluntary action to support and accompany visually impaired people in times of pandemic. The campaign stretches from La Vila to Dénia; in this area ONCE has 370 members with total blindness or with 0.01% severe blindness, a sector of the population that is particularly vulnerable in these times.
With the pandemic, the social life of these people has been significantly reduced and it has even been noted that some of them live alone and are hardly on the streets. Therefore, we are calling on the public to participate as volunteers in this program.
Volunteering can be done by phone, by maintaining daily contact with the blind person to accompany them by phone and identify any needs, or by face-to-face volunteering, by accompanying these people, giving them the opportunity to go out on the street, do activities they cannot do on their own, etc. In both cases, ONCE offers volunteers online and face-to-face training with their therapists.
People interested in volunteering can contact the ONCE Benidorm agency at benidorm@once.es or by calling 96 585 26 98. With this campaign, ONCE wants to contribute to the full social integration of people with visual impairments and, at the same time, make visible the difficulties faced by this group in times of pandemic.
The Councilor for Civic Participation, Noelia Císcar, has met with the head of the ONCE agency in Benidorm, Anabel Morente, to plan the lines of collaboration and dissemination of the campaign.