The Meaning and Importance of friendship

Explore GFS Perth's Friendship Central initiative

By Alison Gilchrist, CEO, GFS Perth

Have you ever stopped to wonder where the word friendship actually comes from?

It’s one of those words we use almost every day, yet I suspect very few of us have ever paused to ask how it came into being.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the Old English word for friend was freond, meaning someone who is loved or held dear. Even more remarkably, it comes from an ancient root meaning “to love.”

In other words, the very origins of the word remind us that friendship has never simply been about knowing another person. From the very beginning, it has been about affection, care, loyalty and choosing to value someone else. That seems rather beautiful to me. Perhaps we’ve forgotten that.

Today we speak of “adding friends” on social media, counting followers or collecting contacts. We often describe people we’ve met only once as friends. Technology has given us extraordinary ways of communicating, but it hasn’t necessarily made it easier to build the kind of friendships that the word originally described.

In fact, the opposite may often be true. Across Australia, loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognised as significant public health issues. Research continues to show that strong social connections contribute to better mental health, improved physical wellbeing and greater resilience throughout life.

We know instinctively that friendship matters, yet many people tell us they feel more disconnected than ever before.

At GFS Perth, this is one of the reasons we speak so often about friendship. For us, friendship isn’t simply a pleasant extra that makes life a little nicer. We believe it is one of the foundations of healthy communities. When people feel connected, they are more likely to volunteer, participate, care for one another and contribute to the places where they live.

That belief sits at the heart of everything we do.

Whether we’re running a Friendship Friday, welcoming families to Little Buds, sharing a cuppa after a Stroll in the Park, or inviting people into our permaculture gardens, our purpose is always the same. We are creating opportunities for people to build genuine relationships. The activities themselves are important, but they are never the end goal. They are simply the means by which friendships begin.

This understanding has also shaped the development of Friendship Central in the Swan Valley.

People often ask whether Friendship Central is a café, a community garden, a volunteer hub or a place to learn about permaculture. The answer is “yes” to all of those things, but they are really only parts of a much bigger picture.

Friendship Central is being designed to help people connect.

The café will encourage conversation over good coffee and locally grown food. The gardens will bring people together through shared learning and practical work. Workshops will allow neighbours to discover new skills alongside one another. Volunteers will find purpose while working as part of a team. Families, older people, children and visitors will all find spaces where they are welcome.

The buildings are important, but the friendships that grow within them will be far more valuable.

This is also where our work around Social Fitness comes in.

Just as physical fitness develops through regular exercise, we believe our capacity to build healthy relationships grows through practice. Listening well, showing kindness, making the first move, welcoming someone new, sharing our time and learning to trust others are all skills that become stronger the more we use them. Social Fitness is about intentionally creating opportunities for those skills to flourish because stronger friendships lead to stronger communities.

When I think about the history of the word friendship, I can’t help wondering whether our ancestors understood something that we are only now rediscovering.

Perhaps friendship was never intended to be casual.

Perhaps it was always meant to be one of the ways we express care for one another.

Perhaps that’s why even the smallest acts, a handwritten note, a phone call, an invitation for coffee or simply remembering someone’s name, can have such a profound effect. They remind people that they are seen, valued and held dear.

As the end of Friendship Awards nominations approaches, I wonder whether each of us might take a moment to think about someone who has made a difference in our own lives. Is there a person who encouraged you when things were difficult, believed in you when you doubted yourself, or simply walked alongside you through life’s ordinary moments?

If there is, why not nominate them?

Friendship rarely changes the world through grand gestures, more often, it changes lives through small acts of consistency, generosity and kindness that quietly accumulate over time.

At GFS Perth, we believe those small moments are anything but ordinary. They are the building blocks of stronger families, healthier neighbourhoods and more connected communities across Western Australia.

After all, if the word friendship has always been rooted in love, perhaps our task is not to reinvent friendship at all.

Perhaps it is simply to practise it.