Community Friend Program

Everybody deserves to experience the beauty of friendship.

Melbourne City Mission assists adults with mild to moderate disability to find friends in the community and socialise regularly.

The Community Friend Program is a simple way to make an everlasting impact on someone’s life and help a person who otherwise may be socially isolated.

The importance of just being a friend who shares the ups and downs, a contribution from the heart makes anyone feel important

Community Friend Program Volunteer

Community friendship can take 2 forms:

One-to-one

You can be matched to one person who is looking for friendship and social support. This involves getting together for a few hours on a weekly or fortnightly basis to enjoy a variety of activities together. The activities and times are chosen by yourself and the participant according to what you both enjoy doing.

Monthly social groups

If you’ve been accepted for a one-to-one friendship, you may also want to put your name down as a fill-in for our monthly social groups. Regular social groups are facilitated by a team of 2 volunteers. These groups get together once a month to enjoy a social activity such as bowling, a movie, going to the city, or just getting together for coffee and a chat.

We offer community volunteering in the following Melbourne regions

*Please note that we may not have participants waiting in all of these regions.

We’re looking for role models with great social skills and the ability to focus on people’s needs to partake in our program.

In order to take part, you’ll also need to:

• be able to commit to the role for 12 months
• be able to commit 2 to 3 hours a fortnight for a one-to-one friendship match
• undergo a Disability Worker Exclusion Scheme check
• undergo a National Police Check. If you have lived outside of Australia for longer than 12 months in the past 10 years, you will need to provide Melbourne City Mission with an International Police Check.
• meet with the CFP staff at our Thornbury office for an initial interview
• maintain contact with the facilitator

We provide volunteers with ongoing support through training programs, newsletters, emails and phone calls, with face to face catch-ups also available. 

Interested in taking part?

If you are interested in applying to become a Community Friend Volunteer, please:

• complete the enquiry form so we can send you further information on the program
• once you’ve read the information, we can then have a phone conversation to further discuss the program and you can ask any questions you may have
• if we’re the right fit for each other, we’ll then send you an application form

Make an enquiry