Friendship nonprofit seeks Nevada chapters to help women over 50 connect

A national friendship nonprofit is trying to plant a Nevada chapter where loneliness can feel amplified by distance, age and a shrinking social circle. Finding Female Friends Past Fifty, known as FFF>50, has 6,000 members and 17 chapters nationwide, but none in Nevada, and its leaders are looking for women in Pahrump, Tonopah, Beatty and other communities to start new local groups.

Founded by Dale Pollekoff in 2016, FFF>50 describes itself as a free, all-volunteer nonprofit built to end loneliness for women in the second half of life. The group’s website and Meetup presence show a digital network designed to do more than exchange messages. Members can search for nearby women, look for shared interests, create clubs, post discussions, upload images and arrange gatherings, a structure meant to help friendships begin online and then move into real life.

That model matters in Nye County, where geography can make isolation harder to overcome. Nevada’s aging-services data show that 23.3% of older adults receiving home-delivered meals live alone. America’s Health Rankings places Nevada’s 65-and-older social-isolation-risk index at 55, based on 2019 to 2023 data. Another Nevada public-health resource says the state’s older-adult population grew about 57% from 2009 to 2019, a shift that has widened the need for services that reach beyond medical care and into daily connection.

The group is now working through Lida Berliner, who leads the Lake Tahoe-area chapter and is helping recruit women willing to co-lead or build chapters in Nevada. That effort could give women over 50 a way to meet people nearby without relying on the traditional club model that often excludes newcomers or women who have stepped back from work, caregiving or family life.

For Pahrump and other rural Nevada communities, the appeal is practical. A local chapter could make it easier for women to build circles around coffee, hobbies, walking groups or online gatherings, then grow those circles into a broader support system. In a county where a long drive can stand between one woman and the chance to socialize, the ask is simple: find a few willing leaders, and a new network can start taking shape.