Friends charity appeal for more volunteers to help isolated elderly

More volunteers are needed at Friends for Life, a local charity which helps isolated people in care homes.
Community news.Community news.
Community news.

The charity aims to support Bedfordshire’s care home residents by providing personal befrienders to visit those who have few or no visitors.

A spokeswoman said: “Although care homes are exactly that - caring - many residents who perhaps have no surviving family or whose family do not live locally, can feel isolated from the ‘outside’ community.

“Friends for Life seeks to address that imbalance by recruiting, training and supporting volunteers to visit them.”

Now with more than 40 volunteers, visiting nearly 60 residents in 30 homes across Bedfordshire, Friends for Life is still only covering the tip of the ice berg and is keen to recruit more volunteers to join the team.

Being a personal befriender can be one of the most flexible forms of volunteering suiting people of all ages and backgrounds.

Volunteers decide their own visiting rota which can be anything from half an hour a fortnight, weekdays, weekends, daytime or evening. It is rewarding and most volunteers say they get as much out of it as the friends they visit.

If you would like to join the team, contact Joanne Barrow on 01234 213038 or visit the website www.friendsforlifebedford.org.uk

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