Here is a highly cost-effective program: since 1984, MATCH-UP Interfaith Volunteers has matched trained volunteers with frail, low-income elders and disabled adults in the Greater Boston area. Each week, volunteers simply make friendly visits, help with household chores, and assist travel to and from medical and other appointments.

MATCH-UP is based on the idea that social contact can help sustain the physical and mental health of elderly and disabled adults. It has touched many lives. Helen, an 87-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease, calls her volunteer Jackie "the answer to all my needs. She spends a few hours every Thursday with me and the effects of what she does in that short time last all week. ...It is so nice to know that for one night I can eat dinner with more than the TV to keep me company."

With over 200 volunteers from Boston and the surrounding area recruited from churches, synagogues and the wider community, MATCH-UP annually serves over 1,000 seniors and disabled adults, most of whom lack family and friends. In 2003, MATCH-UP launched two pilot programs: Strong for Life, in which trained volunteers exercise regularly with elderly participants, and PetPals, where volunteers and their dogs visit isolated residents of long-term care facilities. The organization also offers free educational workshops to elders on how to communicate more effectively with their health care providers.