Our story
Founding story is in development with the foundation's leadership and will appear here. In the meantime, the work is the story. What we can tell you: this organization was built around a small set of observations about how loneliness actually ends. It doesn't end when someone gets housed. It doesn't end when someone gets a job. It ends when someone becomes a friend — predictably, ordinarily, over time.
What an UpStander is
An UpStander is anyone who chooses to be present for another person — consistently, honestly, on equal footing. They aren't volunteers logging hours. They aren't case workers managing outcomes. They're neighbors who keep showing up.
The word matters. UpStander isn't bystander, and it isn't savior. It's a posture: standing alongside, not above. Helping somebody up, by standing up with them.
The science of friendship
Our work is grounded in the growing body of research on social connection and health. The evidence is now clear enough that public health agencies — including the U.S. Surgeon General — name social isolation as a major contributor to mortality, comparable to smoking or obesity.
We also draw on peer-reviewed work in Frontiers in Psychology on the protective effects of close relationships against depression, and in Innovation in Aging on social connection as a determinant of long-term wellbeing. These aren't decorations. They shape how our programs are designed — which is why our HUDDLEs meet weekly, why our Circles use small groups, and why every UpStander completes the Friendship Academy before being matched.
Leadership
Leadership team bios and headshots will appear here as the foundation publishes them. To reach the team in the meantime, please use our contact page.
Partners
We work alongside Room in the Inn and a network of local faith communities, clinics, and academic researchers studying social connection. We don't replace the work of these partners — we add the relational layer that often goes missing once a more acute need has been addressed.