I think the obvious truth is staring us all in the face - and no one's picked up on it yet.

Just look in tomorrows Blick .... maybe not front page news, but I'm sure the headline will be there, a few pages in:

"Yappy Mongrel Reunited with Elderly Owner After Successful Ransom Drop of Small Used Notes"

right next to

"well known EF member arranges KFC run ( and offers to pay )"

Please tell more of these tales!!! Your art of storytelling (non-fiction) is just brilliant

Thanks everyone. Glad you liked it. I felt it was a moment that had to be shared

Funny story, nicely told. It's a real effort to fill those Zuri sacks up in the summer to maximise content but at the same time try to keep the fruit flies from laying eggs in amongst the banana skins and apple cores...We used to have a green bin when I lived in Biel but no such luck in this apartment. So I can sympathise with the old girl - maybe she was just trying to keep the fruit flies away

Yea like someone we all know ,little pities at the time

The current migros magazine has a few articles on Swiss poverty.

The aged weren't much profiled compared to larger families or the widowed.

I see it as a slow realisation amongst the Swiss on the poverty in their midst. Don't see it as an SVP high priority though.

The pension point is a good reminder, that a lot of people are surviving on their AHV only. It's probably harder for this lady to ask for help at the Sozialamt as her family might have to pay it back.

That's what's very interesting about the Swiss system, if you are down on your luck and need social assistance, your extended family may be expected to pay rather than society as a whole. Many societies even with more developed social welfare infrastructures experience under claiming amongst the aged. It sure keeps taxes down I guess.

To the OP have you checked out (especially as you're fluent in CH-deutsch) local voluntary organizations that might be able to help people like her?
(I'm not aksing something I'm not doing myself).