At LBFE Boston (Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly), we believe in the power of human connection. Since 1979, we have been committed to alleviating loneliness and isolation among low-income older adults, something that is more important now than ever.
Who We Are
Our Vision
Today, our free, on-site social, tech, and arts programs are delivered directly in Boston’s public and affordable senior housing and at local senior centers. LBFE Boston advances equity by offering older people with limited resources a range of activities similar to what you find in market-rate retirement communities.
Haley and Connie spend an afternoon doing arts & crafts at LBFE’s CitySites program in the North End
At the heart of our model is connection and building belonging and community. We engage local college students as participants, fostering friendships that bridge generations. In FY25, more than 1,000 older adults will participate in our programs, proving that aging in community—not in isolation—is both possible and powerful, all while honoring cultural preferences and removing linguistic and physical barriers to participation.
Our History
Marquiset imagined LBFE ‘spreading across the earth igniting little fires of love’” bringing the mission of relieving isolation and loneliness across Europe and North America
Our founder, Armand Marquiset, was born on September 29, 1900 near Paris, France. Early in the 1920s he and his grandmother, Madame de Laumont, visited less well off families who had lost sons in the war. The death of his grandmother in 1930 gave him a shock that had far reaching consequences.
In Paris on July 7, 1939, in Notre Dame Cathedral, Marquiset said “I saw Little Brothers, spreading across the earth igniting little fires of love.” But the outbreak of World War II caused him to set these plans aside in the interest of more pressing needs. In 1939 he therefore started Servir (To Serve) through which he relocated the children of active soldiers to rural areas.
At War’s end, Marquiset returned to the idea of Little Brothers. However, after observing and hearing about post-war conditions in Paris, he decided to focus the effort on elderly people: “1945 was such a precarious time for elderly people. The war brought them poverty…and it became critical to help them, especially to help them continue living in their homes.” For Marquiset, the spiritual needs of these elderly people, left alone and isolated by the war, were even greater than their material needs. “The greatest poverty,” he said, “is the poverty of love.”
He began alone, working out of a rented apartment in a poor section of Paris, visiting the elderly poor. He shared meals, brought flowers, and offered friendship. Eventually “little fires of love” spread and others adopted the mission and opened chapters across Europe and North America.
Our founder’s words still ring true today, “Living is more than a roof over our heads and food on the table. In addition to offering material and physical support, we believe that living requires the presence of people who care about us and about whom we care. Living requires the little touches that bring joy, like flowers, music and shared laughter.”
Today, LBFE has chapters across Europe and North America (with five chapters in the US) all dedicated to relieving social isolation and loneliness among older adults.