The Opportunity

Everybody needs to feel loved, but not everybody does, especially those who are nearing the latter stage of their life.

People in this group include those who live alone, who have lost their partner, who live in retirement villages or aged care facilities, or for one reason or another, find themselves isolated from the company of other people on a regular basis.

Imagine how different the lives of these people would be if suddenly one or more “new friends” came into their life. The key word being ‘friends,’ genuine friends, not just people.

Many in the situations mentioned have people in their lives in the way of service providers, care givers etc., but these are not true friends in the sense of the word. In fact, in some cases, service providers, care givers etc. are instructed by their employers not to form strong friendships with their clients, patients etc.

People and families all over the world currently sponsor children through organisations like World Vision, Compassion etc., simply to provide them with a better life and more opportunities than they might otherwise have. People who do this, do it out of ‘neighbourly love,’ and it’s not uncommon to hear how strong friendships, even visits to them, have often been the result.

What if we applied that same ‘heart’ to those in our own backyard, to those who would benefit greatly from experiencing a little genuine neighbourly love? What if we could improve the quality of life of our older people, but unlike the child sponsorship programs, we could do it, not by donating money, but simply by having a right heart and donating a bit of time and effort occasionally.

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The Solution

A simple and straight-forward ongoing campaign that highlights the issue and then encourages people to participate. The campaign to be not unlike other community programs such as “Do the Right Thing,” “Stop, Revive, Survive,” “Give Blood,” “RUOK,” etc.

Such an initiative has the potential to not only improve the quality of life of older people significantly but the flow on social benefits could be life changing for millions of people and have a positive impact on day to day life generally.

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About the New Friends Network and how it works

The General Aims:

To improve the overall quality of life of older people by connecting them with others, and helping those who need it, to ‘never feel alone.’

To encourage participants to seek opportunities to form friendships among those they meet, for their mutual benefit.

To see many of these develop into lasting and meaningful friendships.

To reduce the impacts of loneliness, isolation, and other emotional issues among people who find themselves having to cope with these social problems.

To see the network supported by individuals, churches and communities across the Nation.

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First priorities:

Awareness is the name of the game and ideally, governments at all levels would quickly acknowledge the problem, then embrace the concept to help publicise both the issue and the solution. Without substantial government support, getting the word out and generating participation will take much longer, and the overall impact would be greatly reduced.

Media be approached to include advertising for the NFN in their Community Service programs, at no cost.

A handout leaflet be produced to explain the program, and what is involved to show your willingness to participate as either a giver or receiver in the initial process, givers being those willing to make the first approach, receivers being those willing to be approached.

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In Practice:

There’s no formal organisation, the concept is simply about encouraging a new lifestyle practice, in the same way “Do the Right Thing” encourages us not to litter.

Put very simply, NFN encourages community members to seek ways to make contact with people who are known or thought to be in this group, and then let nature take its course.

Participants (Givers) to be encouraged to connect with a number of people (Receivers) at least once, and then to follow up with any they feel they want to, e.g., where a connection is made.

If numerous people across the Nation connect, and the result is they make just one new friend, the impact on the lives of all parties will be significant and ongoing.

Society will be far better for it.

How each friendship develops or what the parties do within that friendship is up to the participants, there are no limits, as with any friendship, nature will take its course.

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Ways to connect:

There’s no one size fits all method for connecting with people, especially strangers. Think about what you’re most comfortable doing.

It’s simply a case of being creative.

Some simple examples could be –

Just knocking on the doors of anyone you identify as a possible participant. This could be in a suburban area or a retirement village.

Arranging to randomly visit suitable residents in an aged care facility.

Churches or community groups could consider adding an NFN component to their programs.

A first step could be to simply distribute some of the NFN leaflets to people or places of interest. If you do this, make sure you add a contact name and number for people to respond if they want to.

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Take action now:

If after reading this, you feel the idea has merit, take the next step, and tell someone how you feel.
Tell your friends, your Church, your Council or your local Members. Encourage each of them to actually ‘test’ the idea among their friends, colleagues, associates etc., and then to take further action according to the responses they get.