Friendly Neighbour Hotline

Why Did We Create the Friendly Neighbour Hotline?

Seniors are the most vulnerable and at risk group during the COVID-19 pandemic, with barriers to picking up essentials like groceries. Even before the pandemic, food access for frail seniors has been an issue.

Project Contact

Craig Madho

Thank You to Our Collaborators and Supporters

211 Central, Bathurst Finch Seniors Society, Bernard Betel Centre, Breakaway Addiction Services, City of Toronto, Councillor Josh Matlow, Dixon Hall, National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE), Senior Safety Line, Sistering, Society of Sharing – Inner-City Volunteers , SPRINT Senior Care, The Neighbourhood Group, Toronto Central LHIN, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto Foundation, Toronto Seniors Helpline, United Way of Greater Toronto, University Settlement, Well Living House

Behind The Solution

The Approach

When the pandemic hit Toronto in March 2020, OpenLab realized we needed to do something. Inspired by the mutual aid movement, we expanded on our work with seniors to create a city-wide initiative. The Friendly Neighbour Hotline (FNH) is a way for seniors who lack access to the internet and/or technology to tap into a network of volunteers who can help with groceries, essential items, or food bank pick-ups. As of the summer of 2022, FNH has shifted to focus exclusively on food bank pick-ups using a referral model with direct partnerships with local food banks.

To set up FNH in 2020, the OpenLab team built a remote call centre in the span of a 10-day period. The team designed a call-centre structure that involved remote volunteers answering and triaging calls and figuring out how to distribute pick-ups to delivery volunteers who were divided by the city of Toronto’s twenty-five electoral wards. Though the model shifted as needs evolved, it is based around the call centre volunteer and delivery volunteer structure.

Who are the volunteers?

FNH volunteers are ordinary Torontonians who want to help. All volunteers have been vetted through a review of a government-issued ID (e.g. driver’s license, passport) and through a call to two references. One reference must be from work, school or another volunteer organization. Those who have passed the vetting process attend mandatory online training before they can assist vulnerable seniors.

The Design Solution

OpenLab launched the Friendly Neighbour Hotline on March 13, 2020. At this time, the hotline was a single phone number seniors living in low-income housing in Toronto could call and request a volunteer to help with grocery shopping from a call centre volunteer.

Since this initiative was first announced, over 1,500 volunteers, speaking a total of 39 languages, have stepped forward to offer assistance to the thousands of seniors living in low-income housing across Toronto. To date, FNH has done over 25,000 deliveries supporting over 12,000 unique seniors.

In September 2021, the Friendly Neighbour Hotline shifted its focus to supporting low-income seniors who use food banks and are unable to pick up the hampers themselves. Over the course of the pandemic, it became evident over that this is a high-needs area. We are now working directly with food banks to identify eligible clients, and match clients with volunteers who can support them on an ongoing basis. This is a need that exists beyond the scope of the pandemic and we hope to continue to support in an ongoing way.

In addition to food delivery, FNH volunteers have supported UHN's COVID-19 vaccine rollout by helping out at vaccine clinics across the city of Toronto. FNH volunteers supported the delivery of over 500,000 vaccine doses.