Friday evening 1st September brought 20 years of Befriending together in celebration at The Usual Place, Dumfries. About 130 befrienders, staff, trustees and supporters enjoyed an informal evening with drinks, canapes and great music from Fairfarren (Faye McCormick and Karen Robertson). Long service awards were presented by the project’s Chair Frances Campbell to 7 volunteers for their outstanding loyalty and support.
The background to the charity was explained by Alice Campbell, who was instrumental in its inception- and is still a trustee to this day. The charity is an early intervention service which promotes the wellbeing of young people aged 8 – 18 years who benefit from a period of independent one-to-one support.
After the ceremonial cutting of the most delicious Birthday Cake came the highlight of the evening. The words spoken by three young people, who bravely shared their appreciation of the positive impact their befrienders made in their lives, were both a joy to hear and quite emotional. Well done.
Alex Dickson, Project Manager said “the heartfelt words of the young people just confirmed why befriending is so worthwhile – and I am very proud to be involved in a charity which changes lives. This region is so indebted to our wonderful volunteers.”
DGHP Chair, David McMillan, said he was delighted for his organisation to sponsor such a worthwhile charity before Fraser Sanderson proposed a Vote of Thanks – bringing the evening to a close with his usual wit and humour.
A special thank you goes to Allan Devlin, DG Life photographer for supplying us with these outstanding photographs. We also have an article in this months Dumfries & Galloway Life, which has more photographs in it, so keep an eye out for us.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer befriender, please contact 01387 247812, email projectoffice@befriending.org or make contact through Facebook.
