Description
Les Petits Frères des Pauvres is a French association, founded in 1946, whose volunteers visit isolated older people at home, organise group activities and holidays, and answer a free, anonymous listening line, Solitud’écoute.
It is recognised as a public-utility association. By its own figures it supported 26,000 older people in 2025, through 431 local action teams and about 15,000 volunteers, and Solitud’écoute, staffed by volunteers in Paris, Nantes and Lyon, handled 12,000 calls that year. In 2025 it also took 2,800 people on a holiday or a day out, with 287 stays in ten holiday houses. Its accounts are checked under the Don en Confiance label, held since 1991 and renewed in March 2024 until 2027, and the 2025 annual report and auditor’s report are on its website.
Help is free for the people supported. Becoming a volunteer starts with an online form, a call from the national volunteer team and an information meeting; when checked in November 2026 the form and the free volunteer line showed a notice that they were temporarily unavailable.
Strengths
- Volunteers visit people at home over time, which builds a real relationship rather than a one-off service.
- Help is free for older people, and the listening line is anonymous and free.
- Its accounts carry the Don en Confiance label, renewed until 2027, and its annual report is published.
Weaknesses
- The volunteer sign-up form and phone line showed an outdated “temporarily unavailable” notice in November 2026.
- Its figures differ between pages, for example 15,000 or 15,067 volunteers, without a year.
- Coverage depends on local teams, so the help on offer varies from town to town.
Who it is for
Older people in France who live alone, their families and neighbours who worry about them, and people who want to give a few hours a week as volunteers.
Sources
- Petits Frères des Pauvres: home, the association, Don en Confiance, become a volunteer, holidays (checked November 2026)
- Don en Confiance