Young volunteers give free air conditioners to elderly people during heatwave
‘I thought I was going to die in this heat, and you arrived and made me feel better’
Published
Young volunteers from an association supporting youth integration have delivered free air conditioners to elderly people in the Hauts-de-Seine during the recent heatwave.
No Limit Education bought around 20 air conditioning units and distributed them to elderly residents considered vulnerable because of their health or isolation. The association used part of the €15,000 prize money it received in an Île-de-France regional association competition to fund the initiative.
“We asked ourselves how we could act at our level,” Julienne Kabanangi, founder and president of No Limit Education, told The Connexion. “For us, being an association means being useful.”
The association worked with a local home-care organisation supporting elderly people in the Hauts-de-Seine to identify residents most in need. The beneficiaries included people living alone, with health problems, or struggling to cope with high temperatures in their homes.
The air conditioners were delivered and installed by young volunteers of the association, which supports around 300 young people each year through training, career guidance and employment support.
“When you receive something, you should give your time in return,” Ms Kabanangi said. “This volunteer work allows them to give back a little of what they have received throughout the year.”
Some of the volunteers had never previously spent time with elderly people in vulnerable situations.
“The feedback from the young people was: ‘This is amazing, we should do this more often’,” she said. “It allows them to reconnect with society and with what exists outside their own personal difficulties.”
The visits also created moments of exchange between generations. One resident told volunteers she had worked at Dior before later retraining in computing.
“It was extraordinary to listen to these stories,” Ms Kabanangi said. “This intergenerational connection is something that should happen more often.”
Some residents also described the impact the visits had on them. One woman told volunteers: “I thought I was going to die in this heat, and you arrived and made me feel better.”
Another resident, who lived alone and was struggling with the heat, was surprised to receive the support.
“She looked at us and said: ‘Why me?’” Ms Kabanangi said. “She thanked us and told us: ‘You are changing my life.’”
Ms Kabanangi also explained that the initiative was more than just providing cooling devices. “It was also about taking time to care for them and checking that our elderly people are doing well,” Ms Kabanangi said.
