Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation
All Ears Friendship Bench Program
All Ears Friendship Bench Program
Learn more about your impact
This fund supports an innovative intergenerational program that connects ASU students with trained older adult volunteers for supportive, one-on-one conversations that foster well-being, resilience, and a sense of belonging. Gifts help support volunteer recruitment and training, student outreach and engagement, program operations, and ongoing research and evaluation designed to measure the impact of meaningful social connection on participants' health and well-being.
This fund benefits both ASU students and the older adults who volunteer their time, experience and compassion. Donor support helps create opportunities for connection across generations, reduces social isolation, promotes emotional well-being, and advances research that can inform future approaches to strengthening community and mental health through human connection.
Many students are not around older adults. It's very easy on a campus to become age-segregated and forget there's a world around us. This provides an opportunity for students to have a listening ear to process things that they're going through, but also to meet someone from another generation and to engage with them.”
Impact of donor support
• 40+ Bench Champions trained
• 600+ hours of volunteer support provided
• 2,500 students reached
• Program delivered on 4 Valley campuses
“One girl told me, ‘I've only been here 15 minutes, but I feel so much better.’”