When loneliness sets in, for whatever reason, it's wise to take the initiative in restocking the reservoir of friends. Similarly, looking up old roommates and colleagues can reignite a friendship. With no old friends in the city to reconnect with, she took the next best route. I look for activities I enjoy and hope I'll meet some kindred spirits. Charles Fahey, professor of aging studies at Fordham University in New York City.
Friendships occur within the context of doing significant things, pursuing visions and dreams.
Geriatrician Linda Fried, director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins, noticed over the years that some of her retired patients suffered not only from loneliness but also from loss of self-worth. To address those problems, she and her colleagues developed a novel program called Experience Corps, which trains teams of seven to 10 retired adults and places them in elementary schools to provide classroom support to teachers in everything from reading and math to violence prevention. The team approach gives schools a critical mass of input from the volunteers. The Baltimore, Md., chapter, now in its second year in six schools, is monitoring the educational benefits for students and the mental, physical and social effects on the volunteers. Since signing up with Experience Corps last year, she has found a new sense of purpose in helping the teacher and kids in a first-grade class at Guilford Elementary School in Baltimore.