Family Friends is a program that matches senior volunteers with families of chronically ill or disabled children. Rural Family Friends, which is an outgrowth of Family Friends, focuses on rural families in distress. Rural Family Friends has established pilot programs in Arkansas, Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and West Virginia. The senior volunteer may serve as a source of information to the family; a role model to the children and a parent model to the parents; a source of stability for the family; and a teacher of basic life skills. Each local program has: (1) a project director, who is a trained professional with experience with at-risk families; (2) an advisory committee of community leaders, professionals, and specialists; (3) volunteers who are 55 years of age or older; and (4) the participating children and families. Establishing a Rural Family Friends program involves recruiting, training, and supervising volunteers; selecting families to participate in the program; matching volunteers with families and scheduling visits of volunteers to families; fundraising; and promoting and evaluating the program. (BC)