No More Lonely Friends Is Back Again On September 18

NEW YORK CITY — Looking for new friends? Want to expand your friend group? No More Lonely Friends is returning to New York City to host it’s third picnic on September 18. Everyone looking for new friends is invited to come and meet new people while picnicking.

No More Lonely Friends made the announcement on their Instagram account and said they would release more information, including the location and time, soon. The previous two picnics have been in Central Park.

On May 17, TikTok user Drew Harding posted a video asking people to help him find a girl named Marissa from New York so he could deliver an important message. “I just walked by your friends and I need to tell you that the weekend you're away is not the only time that they could do their birthday party.”

The video received 2.8 million likes and almost 15,500 comments, many of which were in support of Marissa offering to be her friend. Users like Becca DiPaolo, who commented “hey marissa I’ll be your friend been here too many times before. Time to find some genuine ppl gf.”

Just one day later, Harding found Marissa and the two met up. This whirlwind series of events inspired Marissa Meiz, 23, to create No More Lonely Friends in June. She posted her own video on the Instagram account nomorelonelyfriends identifying herself as the Marissa from Harding’s video.

A few days later, Meiz announced No More Lonely Friend’s first meetup would be June 5 in Manhattan’s Central Park. The video went viral. Over 200 people showed up for more than eight hours of games, conversations and bonding, The New York Times said. During their second picnic on Aug. 8, more than 600 people came out to the No More Lonely Friends picnic.

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A post shared by MARISSA’S FRIEND CLUB (@nomorelonelyfriends)

After the event, Meiz started a website for No More Lonely Friends, an online community looking to make meaningful friendships during meet-ups across the country. “We create connections that encourage people to foster friendships that lift them up, rather than tear them down,” the website said.

No More Lonely Friends has held meet-ups in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. No More Lonely Friends is expanding as well, hosting their first picnics in Denver; Nashville, Tennessee; Raleigh, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Locations are posted in videos to TikTok and Instagram. The events are free and open to anyone. Picnics are dog friendly, too.

“The cool thing is everyone there is to make friends, so everyone looks like they’re already friends but in reality everyone’s showed up alone,” Meiz told The New York Times.