Kemikammari – a meeting place for all

Kemikammari

a meeting place for all

by Riikka Vuoristo | riikka.vuoristo@meriva.com

We have in Kemi a meeting place called Kemikammari. It is an open place for everyone regardless age, social situation, race and religion. There is a Community counselling place for elderly and special activities for unemployed persons. All activities are open for all aged people and they are free of charge.

Kemikammari is founded by town of Kemi (counselling for elderly) and Meriva foundation with financing of Founding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations (Stea) (activities for all aged people who are in danger of become marginalized).

Kemikammaris target is to reduce loneliness, to increase sense of community and to offer all kinds of activities which improve citizens welfare physically, psychically and socially. Also, counselling is offered not only for elderly but also for working-age persons.

Doing things together

We have about 1,900 visitors per year and nearly 150 persons who visit regularly Kemikammari every week. 65% of visitors are over 65 and 45% are aged 18-65. Also some children visit our place with their parents. Our visitors are unemployed persons, working people, persons in disability pension, old aged pensioned, parents who are at home and immigrants. In Kemikammari different kind of people meet and do things together.

We offer plenty of activities for our visitors. We exercise together many times a week, we have groups for hobby crafts, we offer digital counselling, we play together (cards, board games, snooker, petanque), sing together and just talk and spend time together. Parties, music events and balls are

our activities, too. Also, we have lectures about welfare (nutrition, sleeping, exercising) and about communal services (health care, cultural and social). The social workers offer their services regularly in Kemikammari.

We visit together communal services like museums and exercise places. We make walking trips to parks and nearby forests. We visited and co-operated with other meeting places (places for immigrants and mental health rehabilitators in Kemi). Our visitors do also volunteer work – they make handicraft to elderly people homes and lead hobby groups and exercise in Kemikammari.

Our main target is a happy visitor. Our visitors have told us that Kemikammari is their everyday joy, a reason to wake up, a place to meet others, even if something like mothers lap! Many of them have find new friends in Kemikammari, even some couples have find each other in our place.