You Do Not Need a Degree — Just Four Hours: How Pittsford Residents Can Help End Loneliness Through Compeer Rochester

There are more than 200 people in Monroe County on a waiting list right now. Not for a medical procedure — for a friend. Compeer Rochester launched its Scroll Less Connect More campaign on Sunday, September 28, and the ask is direct: become a Compeer Rochester volunteer, give four hours a month, and that number starts to move.

What Compeer Rochester Does — and Why It Started Right Here

What Compeer Rochester Does — and Why It Started Right Here

Compeer International was founded right here in Rochester in 1973 by Bernice Bunny Skirboll. The model is simple to state: recruit and train community volunteers, match them one-to-one with adults referred by mental health specialists, and connect people who share enough interests that a real friendship can develop. What Skirboll started in Monroe County has grown to nearly 40 locations across four countries. Rochester is where the idea began — that a trained neighbor, not a clinician, could make a sustained difference in someone's life. That idea has held up for fifty years.

The Waiting List: More Than 200 Monroe County Residents Waiting for a Friend

The Waiting List: More Than 200 Monroe County Residents Waiting for a Friend

Tracy LoTemple, Director of Programs at Compeer Rochester, describes the current gap plainly: more than 200 people in Monroe County are on the waiting list right now. Every one was referred by a mental health specialist — a professional has already assessed each person and determined that a sustained one-on-one friendship would make a real difference in their life. These are not strangers in crisis. They are neighbors who have been prescribed belonging. The list does not clear itself. The only mechanism is more volunteers stepping forward. Every match that forms takes one name off.

Scroll Less Connect More: The New Campaign and the Screen Time Calculation

Scroll Less Connect More: The New Campaign and the Screen Time Calculation

The new campaign turns on one number: Americans spend an average of 64 hours on screens per month. Compeer is asking for four of them — one short friendship, once a month. Flyers, bus wraps, and social media are carrying the message across Monroe County, and LoTemple says walk-in volunteer inquiries have already risen since Sunday's launch.

"Bringing that awareness that we are spending so much time on social media and that we are connecting less as a society has been an eye opener to our volunteers."

— Tracy LoTemple, Director of Programs, Compeer Rochester

What Being a Compeer Volunteer Actually Looks Like

What Being a Compeer Volunteer Actually Looks Like

Volunteers go through training before any match is made. Compeer teaches you how to connect with someone carrying a mental health diagnosis — how to show up consistently and let a friendship develop without forcing it. The meetings don't require an agenda: coffee, a walk, watching a game. The data on what happens next is clear: 60 percent of Compeer matches last longer than two years, with some running past 30 years. The Walk to End Loneliness is Sunday, November 1.