Friends for Life

Friends for Life has worked for over 34 years to make life better for seniors and people with disabilities especially those who are without family. Protecting against abuse, neglect and exploitation and empowering vulnerable people to be the best they can be are an important part of this work as is serving people in need without compromising their dignity or their right to confidentiality. With an ultimate goal of being able to reach into rural counties across the state to serve unserved people, Friends for Life is working now to become strong enough financially to accomplish the goal of helping people across the state continue to live independently and to improve the quality of their lives.

Friends for Life has looked at each part of its work to determine what is working and what is not. By streamlining its operations, the charity is becoming more efficient and able to serve more clients with fewer paid staff. Communication internally and externally is being improved. Processes have been reviewed to increase productivity. Job descriptions have been studied and positions redefined to make the entire program more cost effective. New funding strategies are being implemented and as funding makes it possible the program areas will be expanded to serve more isolated elderly and people with disabilities.

Friends for Life has a talented, committed, connected Board of Directors, a very qualified, dedicate staff and thousands of volunteers who are helping us accomplish our objectives. The charity partners with hundreds of businesses, churches, civic organizations, and others who multiply our ability to serve. Much of our ability to serve has come from 34 years of experience serving the elderly and people with disabilities. This experience has provided opportunities to meet those who refer new clients to us as well as those who can help us serve these people in need. This network is a huge asset. Well developed systems for each aspect of serving provide us with capability to serve. And, we are blessed with creative people who constantly come up with new ways to improve the lives of people in need. Well established relationships with schools, churches and civic organizations are giving us interns, work study students, and a constant flow of volunteers.

Friends for Life began in September of 1989 in a small borrowed office with no paid staff, no volunteers, no programs, no funding and no clients. Today its headquarters is a 26,000 sf state of the art Intergenerational Center. The charity has offices in Abilene, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Texas City and Tyler. With a paid staff of 85, thousands of volunteers, dozens of programs, Friends for Life has served almost 26,000 people over the years.We would like to double the size of our Adult Day Care Center, create a Supported Decision Making Program and take our Independent Living, Quality of Life, and Money Management Programs into unserved counties across the state and we would like to do this debt free.