Despite retirement, Hiller still befriending the elderly

Polly Raday, of Chestnut Hill, recently retired as executive director of Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly, a national, non-profit, volunteer-based organization committed to relieving isolation and loneliness among the elderly.

By ED MAHON

After a couple of retirement parties, Chestnut Hill resident Polly Raday still hasn’t stopped working to help the elderly. For 14 years she worked at Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly (LBFE), a charity organization for elderly people growing old alone. According to Raday’s replacement and current executive director, Virginia Pope-Eagan, Raday practically built the current agency. What started out with a Thanksgiving event grew into a year-round viable agency that gives support to 1,000 elderly and, as Raday says, “concentrates on the 200 most needy.”

Polly started as a part-time assistant directing the 1992 Thanksgiving program. More than 350 elderly people were served dinner. Last year more than 600 elderly were served.

“Polly’s very, very smart and has incredible compassion for the elderly,” Eagan says. “[LBFE} has arrived where it is because of Polly.”

Despite retiring last winter, Raday currently works as the director of special projects, volunteering and writing grants to raise money.

LBFE has been in Philadelphia for 15 years. When Raday arrived, LBFE used some extra space that a member of the board of trustees gave them. The 10-by-10 office was located at Temple University, and Raday says there was barely enough room for her to walk to her desk.

The Chicago native and current Chestnut Hill resident had previous experience working at the Red Cross Northwest Branch, where she directed the volunteers. Before the Red Cross, she had taken a break from teaching high school to raise her three children, who are now grown. She laughs and says, “Although I raised them briefly.”

Going back even farther than Raday, the charity agency started in France after World War II because, according to Polly, the ravages of war left many elderly without anyone to care for them. Raday said of the founder, “He tried to be the surrogate family, spreading little fires of love.” The founder started a lay brotherhood, who “literally walked the streets of Paris and looked” for people to help.

Jump ahead a generation or so. Besides a larger office, Raday also added computerized records, which makes it easier to help people. The improved organization is one of the two highlights of Raday’s career. LBFE has had over 4,000 volunteers, as well as a good donor base, although Raday says it’s still a small organization. “We always have to work to get support,” she adds.

Despite the initial hardships, Raday “was never discouraged. I think I just took for granted that we’d grow. You just do what you do. You always know there’s more to do.”

Aside from the growth of the organization, the other highlight is personal satisfaction: “It’s just the pleasure on the faces that you see,” she says. When Polly helps with the elderly, “I always think of my mother.”

Raday shares a story that shows how both volunteers and clients grow. One woman thought she’d volunteer and help out “this old lady,” as she put it, only to be helped herself instead. The volunteer’s son was working on a high school history project about Philadelphia, and the elderly woman was able to fill in details about her own experiences in the city that helped the youth complete his project.

Still, it’s not all upbeat. Since they work with older clientele, the hardest part is when these clients die. “It’s hard on all of us. And you think of the volunteer. It’s almost like they’ve adopted someone.”

The over 900 current volunteers and five regular staff members maintain a close relationship, just as the founders had. “It’s very personalized,” Raday says. Volunteers just “go and sit and talk,” acting as a sort of surrogate family. They visit on birthdays, organize other events like Easter and Valentine’s parties, attend Sixers games, and other types of events that foster companionship. Lately, they’ve been involving children volunteers, who help out with small chores like changing a light bulb or coming with a patient to the hospital.

Since LBFE concentrates on more personalized things that family members normally do, they don’t take care of meals on wheels or legal services, but they put people in contact with these organizations. Raday has helped make thousands of lives less lonely, and, by the way, Eagan adds, “Did she tell you she’s a mean squash player?”

For more information, visit www.littlebrothers.org or call 215-765-8118.