Feros Care is officially ‘a very neighbourly organisation’ after partnering with Relationships Australia as a Very Neighbourly Organisation (VNO) and as an advocate for Neighbour Day.

Held on the last Sunday of March every year, Neighbour Day is Australia’s celebration of community and encourages people to connect with others who live in their neighbourhood.

Head of Be Someone For Someone, Feros Care’s charitable initiative to tackle loneliness, Jo Winwood, said this year’s Neighbour Day theme of ‘social connections’ aligned perfectly with our mission to enable bold lives, addressing the current loneliness epidemic by providing the tools, resources and opportunities for people to form meaningful connections.

“Be Someone For Someone, was formed last year in response to alarming statistics that revealed one-in-four adult Australians were lonely, and its terrible impact on our health.

“Feros Care and Be Someone For Someone has the greatest respect and admiration for the work Relationships Australia does providing relationship support services for individuals, families and communities,” said Ms Winwood.

“We have seen the devastating impacts of loneliness and decided to get involved in Neighbour Day to create more awareness of the great benefits we all gain though connected neighbourhoods, show what it means to be neighbourly and how fostering connected communities can save lives.

“Being neighbourly could be something as simple as complimenting a neighbour on their garden, popping a welcome note in the letterbox of a new resident in your street, or offering help to someone you don’t know particularly well who needs a hand.”

To raise awareness of Neighbour Day, Feros Care and Be Someone For Someone will kick off a month-long campaign to start conversations, offer tips and encourage the community to get to know their neighbours and members of their community.

“Building strong and resilient communities is a huge aspect of the work we do at Feros Care and Be Someone For Someone every day.

“We have a range of projects that promote social inclusion and connectedness, from one-on-one companionship to virtual communities; from creative arts and crafts-for-purpose to intergenerational activities and capacity building programs that focus on creating neighbourhoods that are inclusive for people living with disability.

“Our recent More the Merrier campaign also encouraged communities to include someone who may be lonely in their Christmas celebrations, and as a result, more than 400 people were supported in 2019 through what is otherwise the loneliest time of the year.”

“Our partnership with Relationships Australia as a very neighbourly organisation is another way we can raise awareness of the importance of community connections and amplify our message to connect even more people,” said Ms Winwood.

To find out more about Neighbour Day, visit www.neighbourday.org or www.relationships.org.au.

To find out more about the work that Feros Care does, check out the website by clicking here.