A friend is at the end of the phone

ASB celebrated the International Day for Older Persons by highlighting the work of its caring callers team.

ASB contact centre staff member Eugene Lok, who has been a caring caller for eight years, saw it as an opportunity to give back to the wider community.

“Making friendly conversation and connecting with a client you have not seen or met before is quite a natural and fulfilling fit with the contact centre environment. This is a worthwhile and enriching endeavour,” he said.

For Alison Cameron, who works in ASB’s Manukau contact centre, being a caring caller had been incredibly rewarding.

“It feels good to give something that doesn’t cost anything except my time, and has so much value for the recipient,” she said.

“For me it’s a two-way friendship, and I look forward to each phone call, which usually ends with such gratitude that I have taken the time to phone.”

St John assigns people in need to a caller who will then contact them on a regular basis.

Some callers have been in touch with the same person for years, and can call on a fortnightly, weekly or even daily basis, depending on how

"It feels good to give something that doesn’t cost anything except my time, and has so much value for the recipient. "

Alison Cameron

often they want to be contacted, calls ranging from a few minutes to an hour or so.

ASB sponsorship manager Shelley Dunmore said the initiative began as a way of keeping in touch with people in the local community who might otherwise feel isolated or alone.

“The programme is a way to help elderly people maintain their independence within their community, while also providing them with social support,” she said.

“It’s a big commitment. These people give up hours of their own time every week, and some of them have been doing this for more than a decade.”

The service is confidential, so caller and called never meet, but according to St John often form lifelong friendships.