Have you helped a guy friend with depression? What was helpful and useful?

I think one of my friends is sinking into a clinical depression. This is a someone who've I've known for decades, but we've started talking intimately just recently, like a week or so ago.  Change in sleep habits, unusual mostly sad but sometimes euphoric thoughts, now I'm hearing about weight loss and food not having any taste, and feeling like he's in a hole. I feel badly that I didn't put the pieces together until now, but it's adding up.  Everyone I know who's been depressed is a woman, including myself.  The Internets tell me to be supportive and get him out and about and NOT to say, "how are you? You sound depressed,"  which is what I just deleted from sending in email.  Instead I asked if he wanted to get together.  Here are suggestions: www.wikihow.com/Help-Someone-with-Depression  Have you helped a guy friend with depression? What was helpful and useful? 

Stories about sisters

I was just telling a friend about this, because we might do a similar trip, and thought I'd write down some of the better stories about my family.

When my mother moved to the Bay Area, I flew to Arizona, helped pack her stuff into a moving van, and drove her to the Bay Area. LOTS of driving, but it's pretty. Mom and I stayed over night in Palm Springs, near Santa Barbara, in Monterey, and then home.

The morning of our arrival in the Bay Area, we found out that all my mother's stuff, including her bed, was a day late being delivered by the moving van to her new place. We called my sister C-, who lives alone in a four bedroom, two-story house, to see if Mom could spend the night there, and then C- could drive her 10 miles to Mom's new place the next day. C- refused. She was insulted, she said, and hung up on me. (No, it doesn't make sense. It usually does not.)

So mom and I shared my bed, and my cat, who slept every night on my pillow, hopped onto my face at least a dozen times during then nigth, wondering whyI was on HIS bed. Then I had to go to work the next day, after basically a horrible night's sleep, or non-sleep, really. Oh the good times with this loving sister!