The mission of Koľko Lásky o.z. civil society organization is to bring seniors not only joy, but also a feeling that they matter – that their Autumn of Life can be full of love and belonging. Through our nationwide appeals, we strive to improve the lives of seniors who are dependent on the help of others and create bridges between generations.
Tens of thousands of people participate in our activities every year. We work with more than 300 volunteers and 16 regional volunteer coordinators throughout Slovakia.
Our appeal "How much Love can you fit in a shoebox?" we are organizing in 2024 already for the 7th time. In it, the whole of Slovakia prepares beautiful Christmas presents for seniors packed in shoe boxes. We have already given out more than 293,000 of them. Our second appeal is running in the spring "Love blooms at every age", in which children and adults prepare handmade postcards for seniors with a flower motif and attach various small gifts and flowers of all kinds to them. "Therapeutic dolls for loving memories" is a project where, by donating reborn dolls, we help seniors with Alzheimer's and senile dementia train parts of the brain that have long stopped working and alleviate the consequences of their disease. In our latest project „“Love in every touch“„ we brought ergotherapeutic aids to the market for the development of fine motor skills. We developed them in cooperation with social workers and the primary physicians of a Long Term Care & Rehabilitation unit. The aids include a stimulus for memory training, finger grip, distinguishing basic colors, coordination, accuracy, attention and perseverance, while maintaining the dignity and integrity of seniors.
In addition to the general public, we also involve schools and corporate partners in our appeals, with whom we bring seniors not only gifts, but also dignity, memories, and the feeling that they are not forgotten. We sincerely thank our amazing supportive community.
We are pleased to see a great deal of work well done in the six years of our history.
In the time right before Christmas, all of Slovakia prepares wonderful Christmas gifts for seniors in shoe boxes, which they hand over at our collection points. We have been organizing the challenge for the seventh year and it has become a Christmas tradition.
In the spring, we invite schools, companies, and the general public to prepare handmade postcards for seniors, add flower-themed items, and deliver them to participating homes. Together, we will transform their rooms into blooming meadows.
Throughout the year, we try to place therapeutic aids in the homes of clients suffering from Alzheimer's and senile dementia - realistic dolls and animals that are used for reminiscence therapy and have a calming effect.
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We use your donations to cover our essential expenses, without which we cannot exist. Thanks to donors, we are able to organize our appeals and help seniors all year round. Thank you for helping with us!
The interest of companies in helping seniors and corporate volunteering has been coming to the fore recently, which we are very pleased about. Here you can find more information about how we can jointly bring one-time and long-term solutions for seniors.
If you are an institution providing services to seniors (Senior Homes, Hospice, Field Service, Hospitals, etc.), register to our database and we will include you in our year-round calls as recipients and we will be able to help your seniors as well.
We believe that by encouraging children to volunteer and help the vulnerable, we will not only create intergenerational cooperation but also raise conscious youth. Involving children in our activities is a goal that we have also enshrined in our statutes.
Our year-round activities to help seniors require costs in the tens of thousands of Euros. We try to participate in grant calls and schemes, but we are unable to cover our operating costs.
We are therefore looking for patrons who will regularly contribute to our activities and we will reward them accordingly.
There is nothing more beautiful than caress your soul with beautiful photos of smiling seniors. Therefore, follow our social networks and subscribe to our newsletter, and in return, we will share a selection of the most beautiful photos with you.
If you have fond memories of your grandparents, or are simply close to seniors, we promise that you will smile when reading our newsletter! We will regularly (but not too often) send you content that will warm your soul and be full of beautiful emotions from the lives of seniors whose hearts we touch!
On behalf of our residents and the entire work team, I would like to sincerely THANK YOU. The work you do and the energy you put into it has great value and enormous meaning. You give the most valuable thing in life, and that is joy and a smile that heals both body and soul. I am very grateful for people like you. I especially wish you health and a lot of determination and energy so that the message of love among people spreads as long as possible.
When handing over these "magic boxes", which are full of nice surprises, a smile and joy appeared on the faces of our clients. It was truly genuine and sincere joy, which made their whole day and this pre-Christmas period more pleasant and colorful. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the organizers of the collection and all the donors involved!
I want to thank you once again from the bottom of my heart on behalf of our clients for the beautiful boxes filled with goodies, but also with love, because it was clear that people prepared them from a sincere heart. They brought a smile to our clients' faces. You really made them very happy. I am attaching a few photos...
On behalf of the entire Bella Vita, n.o. team and on behalf of our social service recipients, we would like to thank you very much for being a part of such a wonderful project called "How much love fits in a shoebox." It is great that even in this more demanding, hectic period you found the time and desire to think about our seniors. Thanks to you, our seniors certainly had a happier holiday. Thank you very much again and we are already looking forward to next year.
Good afternoon!
My husband and I are retired and we were very pleased with the gifts in the form of How Much Love Can Fit in a Shoebox.
At the same time, I want to express my admiration and respect for what you are doing today. I see love and respect for the elderly and the sick in the whole project. And most importantly, you support and teach young children in this. Little Eliška and Riško wrote to us specifically. Thank you very, very much. It was very gratifying.
V mene celého nášho zariadenia, klientov i zamestnancov vám veľmi pekne ďakujeme sa zorganizovanie takého krásneho projektu akým je „Koľko lásky sa zmestí do krabice od topánok“. Nedá sa slovami vyjadriť vďačnosť za štedrosť ľudí, zapojených do tejto zbierky nielen materiálnym vybavením krabičiek, ale hlavne svojím srdiečkom. Slzy v očiach našich klientov boli dôkazom zmesi pocitov: prekvapenia, nadšenia, radosti a vďačnosti.
We would like to express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the anonymous donor who, through the "therapeutic dolls" project organized by Koľko Lásky o.z., purchased a therapeutic doll for our residents. The doll was given to us directly at the facility by Mrs. Evka Škorváneková - representative of Koľko Lásky o.z. for the Brezno and Horehronie region. We immediately named her Terezka. Doll therapy is of irreplaceable importance for people with Alzheimer's disease: it relieves loneliness, revives memories of life in youth, fulfills the need for responsibility and importance. They help improve communication, express feelings, and bring a sense of comfort and security. We are all very happy with our Terezka. We thank the anonymous donor, Evka, and the entire Koľko Lásky o.z. team from the bottom of our hearts and wish them lots of health, love, and harmony.
March in our facility began with good news. Thanks to Kółko Lásky o.z., Mrs. PhDr. Martina Feňušová and the management of Dr. Max, we were gifted a Reborn doll for our seniors with Alzheimer's disease. This doll has a therapeutic effect on releasing emotions, reducing nervousness, maintaining attention, maintaining social relationships, supporting active movement and much more. Thank you for choosing our facility in gifting a Reborn doll is indescribable. 
The reception of the Reborn doll was not without tears and joy from our seniors. From that day on, they have been taking turns taking care of the Alenka doll and are looking forward to the new addition to the community. Thank you very much again.
THANK YOU! Since yesterday we have our own therapy doll. She came to us all the way from Spain and according to her "birth certificate" her name is Lea. We have to take good care of her, because with measurements of 1.3kg and 40cm she is our realistic, lovely premature baby. And some of our skilled ladies have already started preparing knitted winter gear for her. We are not convincing anyone that she is alive. Let everyone find what they need or want in her. Thanks to her and the good people from Kolko Lásky o.z. we have expanded our offer of therapies with positive emotions and memories...
One sunny morning, Janka Galátová and Silvia Paludová from Koľko Lásky o.z. visited us at the DOMUS BENE – DOM DOBRA, o.z. facility. They didn’t just come, they brought us a Reborn doll – a realistic baby. Our seniors had no idea what was happening at first, and their surprise was even greater when they saw the doll. For seniors, the doll represents a connection with their past, when they were young or had their own children, and so cells in their brains are activated or renewed. Thanks to the doll, seniors can more easily express their feelings and emotions. Tactile and sensory experiences thanks to the doll bring a sense of comfort and security… and many other benefits. We thank Janka, Silvia and the deputies from Nová Dedinka for this gift.
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