ORLANDO, Fla. — As our population ages, connection to others becomes even more imperative. And a Central Florida group is closing the gap with a simple notion: neighbors helping neighbors.

“I think a lot of neighbors, network is about talking and sharing our lives. We learn from each other,” said Veronica Dailey. “It makes life sweet when you care for somebody. It really does.”

Dailey joined the Central Florida Neighbors Network group several years ago with her husband, Frank. Both were looking for some afternoon activities and a social outlet.

After her husband passed from pulmonary fibrosis about 20 months ago, volunteers stepped up to come to Dailey’s aid, cleaning out her late husband’s closet, helping with meals and spending quality time with the member.

“It’s so important for people to be connected and have a community of people,” said volunteer Emily Glickstein, who often visits with Dailey. “I just love visiting our members and seeing how they’re doing. We call them friendly visits. I have been volunteering for quite a while, and I’m always learning something else about the members.”

After years of community geriatric nursing, Annette Kelly said that she saw a trend happening among older adults, often “disassociated” and their treatments overly medical. She noted other networks have long existed in other places of the United States, for instance in Beacon Hill Village in Boston, where a group’s volunteer work became organized as a network.

And so, Kelly started a Central Florida-based operation, too, around volunteers. The Neighbors Network, she explained, does not administer health care, but covers most other daily needs, from rides to and from appointments, to home projects and handiwork.

Members join for a $300 fee, which includes several rides seniors can schedule per month. There are also scholarships available.

And while the Neighbors Network covers a large swatch of Central Florida, from College Park to Winter Park, with around 60 volunteers for 50 members, they are hoping to entice more to join in order to expand operations.

Kelly, a former volunteer and the group’s past president, is now a member herself receiving service.

“You can’t engineer it. The open setting, the friendliness, the ease, lack of fussiness,” she said. “The way that people bring their best selves to the gathering.”

For Dailey, who fondly reminisces about walking the mall with her husband and hitting the food court, meals alone at home can be a lonely experience.

However, the camaraderie and genuine friendship she has found through the network propels her to keep living a full life. She even started monthly meet-ups for volunteers at her home, offering coloring, coffee and conversation.

“I think what we have here is encouragement to get out and live your life. Get out and do something,” she said. “No matter who comes, there’s always a spirit of gratefulness to be with other people. It’s a blessing to all of us.”