Pictured: A friendly visit can help to protect the vulnerable senior population. Photo courtesy of SFC.

Friendship at home, a volunteer-based program run by Senior Friendship Centers (SFC) started over 20 years ago in 1999. In its early days, it really just involved a friendly visit to a senior who was living alone, or a phone call of reassurance. “Once somebody stops driving, their world starts to get very, very small and so Friendship at Home was really about taking the socialization piece of what we do on our campuses and bringing it into the home,” shares Erin McLeod, CEO of Senior Friendship Centers. “It was basically a friendly outreach.”

After the downturn in the economy in 2008, SFC started to get calls from people who were not in a socialization crisis, which is really what Friendship at Home was meant to address, but in a financial and food crisis instead. Fast forward to today, after destructive hurricanes and a global pandemic, the program has grown into a community-wide effort to ensure the safety and well-being of seniors.

“During the pandemic, our meal program really ramped up. We went from serving 10,000 meals a month to just under 60,000,” McLeod says. “Now it's about 33,000 meals a month but it's still three times what we were doing before.” Part of the increase is due to additional federal funding but also, the sense of dignity and pride that might prevent someone from asking for help was removed during the pandemic, when everyone seemed to need help of some sort. Friendship at Home is now a three component program: a phone call, a friendly visit, and crisis intervention, where the program assists with rent, utility bills or an emergency food bag.

As we enter another hurricane season, SFC is urging the community to get involved to ensure that seniors have the necessary support and resources to stay safe. "Seniors were disproportionately affected by Hurricane Ian due to their limited mobility, isolation, and the challenges of evacuating,” says McCleod. “By just stepping forward and maybe making a call or two a week, just being a friendly voice on the other end of the phone, you can make such a difference in a senior’s life and it can be the thing that you can do from wherever you are.”

Thanks to a grant last year from Impact 100 SRQ who funded the expansion of the program, SFC was able to recruit more volunteers, make more matches, help more people, and connect more seniors to necessary resources. They are now able to serve more seniors and their goal over the next year or so is to serve a thousand more people with Friendship at Home and the support of the community.

In addition to the ongoing efforts of the Friendship at Home program, Senior Friendship Centers has organized a series of upcoming events to empower the community with knowledge, resources, and practical guidance in preparation for hurricane season. These events will take place at the Sarasota Campus at 1888 Brother Geenen Way, and the Venice Campus at 2350 Scenic Drive, Venice.

For more information about events, Friendship at Home program, or other services, or to become a volunteer, call (941) 955-2122 or visit www.friendshipcenters.org.

Pictured: A friendly visit can help to protect the vulnerable senior population. Photo courtesy of SFC.