Charity brings friendship and fun to children and adults across Stratford, Alcester, Shipston, Warwick and Leamington
DESPITE the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a county charity which matches children who are in need with adults for friendship and fun has seen a record number of volunteer applications.
Now in its 36th year, the Friendship Project will be providing support to 100 youngsters across Alcester, Atherstone, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, Nuneaton, Rugby, Shipston, Stratford, Southam and Warwick – up from 70 before the coronavius crisis hit.
The charity, which is based on the Big Brother – Big Sister movement in the United States, provides young friends with older friends who provide the children with regular fun activities, attention and an ongoing friendship for a few hours each week.
Often the activities which they enjoy together are things the children wouldn’t otherwise get to experience. It can be as simple as a walk in the park or baking cakes together, or more of a treat like a trip to the cinema, swimming or wall climbing.
This simple concept has seen the children’s self-esteem grow and even improved their attainment and behaviour at school and in the home.
To date the charity has supported around 1,500 children, who are all referred to the Friendship Project by children’s services.
What’s more, given how Covid-19 restrictions have limited how the project can operate, marketing trustee Angela Truman told the Herald that the volunteers had gone above and beyond to ensure they kept in touch with their young friends at a time when face-to-face contact was virtually impossible.
“What we found in Covid-19 is that while the charity struggled financially and did not raise the £35,000 it hoped to last year, we saw that people wanted to give something back to their community,” she said. “We had an increase in volunteers and that’s why we’re able to support more children at one time than we have ever done before.
“Pre-Covid we had about 70 children and now we’re up to 100, so that’s a massive increase for us. Covid-19 hit very hard and it still does today because the rules have not allowed the Friendship Project to operate as it should.
“The idea is our volunteers spend two to three hours a week together with children and pick them up in their car, but that was a no-no when the pandemic hit.
“Instead people wrote to each other and the older friends sent their young friends word searches and quizzes. Some of the children were keen to do that and others weren’t.”
She added: “Some maintained relationships by FaceTiming. Some of our older friends sent seeds in the post to the children and planted them together and watched sunflowers grow over FaceTime. Some children don’t have the technology to communicate like that or the privacy to do it because they’re in a busy household.
“The older friends worked really hard to try to maintain those friendships. It was hard and it still is with the new variant. We are constantly reviewing what we can and can’t allow the friendships to do as we might have volunteers who are vulnerable or live with vulnerable people, likewise with the children.
“You have to take your hats off to the volunteers, though, as they have done an amazing job trying to build friendships through other means during the pandemic.”
Although the support ends when a child turns 17, Angela told the Herald that some friendships have gone on to last for many more years.
“We’ve had some fantastic stories,” she said. “Although the friendships end on the 17th birthday, the volunteers and children often stay in touch because they have become a part of each other’s lives.
“Two years ago we got the Queen’s Award for voluntary service and we had a few older friends that were speaking, and one of them is now a godparent to her young friend’s children which is just lovely.
“We also have another lady who is an American living in Stratford and she was part of the Big Brother – Big Sister project in the USA. She moved to the UK and is still an active member with the Friendship Project.
“We also have some adults who were young friends that now act as ambassadors for us, as they’ve gone through the Friendship Project and want to give something back.”
The hope for the Friendship Project is that 2022 will enable them to operate to as close as normal as possible, whilst also raising much-needed funding.
Angela also told the Herald that the charity is on the lookout for more volunteers, in particular men.
“Our eldest older friend is well into their 80s while others are just past the age of 18,” she said. “We have men and women older friends, but we could do with more men because more women come forward to volunteer.
“We feel men are a little bit worried about how it looks taking out a child that isn’t theirs because of how society is today.
“We assure men there is a lot of safeguarding training and that we have support for them from area co-ordinators.”
The charity does some fantastic work across the county and it’s all about providing children in need with that much-needed attention others take for granted.
As Angela points out, pretty much any activity goes: “It has been proven that by just having a few weeks of undivided attention for that child boosts their self-esteem,” she said. “Under-performing or misbehaving children at school have been shown to improve because their confidence grows by having an older friend.
“We tend to match older and young friends who have like-minded interests – we would not put an 84-year-old with a 13-year-old who wants to go rock climbing.”
She added: “One of the nice things which is phenomenal about the older friends is the sheer variety of what they do for their young friend. We had one child who wanted to be a member at Warwick Hockey Club, so his older friend took him there after school and also took him to matches.
“Whenever there was no hockey on due to the weather or it was out-of-season, she did different activities with him.
“There’s always food involved too and I know some of our older friends do baking with the children or teach them how to make a full English breakfast.
“If a young friend is struggling with reading, the volunteer will help them and go through it together.
“There was also one man who had a bike in bits and his young friend helped him build it back together and they now go bike riding together.
“Some children just want to go for a walk, go swimming, go to the cinemas or have a McDonald’s. Whatever is on that child’s wishlist we try to give them.”
For more information about the charity, visit https://friendshipproject.co.uk.
