Highland charity seeks support in BBC National Lotto bid
A Highland charity – which has volunteers in Sutherland – needs local support as it competes for votes and the chance to shine on BBC One in this year’s National Lottery Awards.
The project has been plucked from over 750 entries to go into the public vote to decide the winners of this year’s National Lottery Awards – the annual search for the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects.
Distance Befriending is the only Scottish project competing against six other organisations from around the UK to win the Best Voluntary/Charity Project category, scoop a £2,000 prize and rub shoulders with television, sport and music stars at the glamorous National Lottery Awards on BBC One in September.
It is also the only Highland finalist in the awards shortlist overall – a huge achievement.
Part of the charity Highland Befrienders, Distance Befriending recruits, trains, supports and supervises volunteers from across the Highlands to befriend people who are experiencing loneliness and isolation as a consequence of mental ill health. The project has more than 120 volunteers aged 18 – 86 years.
Distance Befriending Coordinator, Sally Mackintosh, says “We’re absolutely over the moon to have reached the finals of The National Lottery Awards.
“It’s just fantastic to be up against projects from around the UK competing for the title of the Best Voluntary/Charity Project and I thank all of our volunteers who have made this possible. They too will be delighted that their dedication has enabled the success of Distance Befriending to be recognised in this way.
“National Lottery money has been a complete lifeline to Distance Befriending enabling us to make a real difference by relieving loneliness and isolation for people across the Highlands and to pioneer new and innovative ways of helping so many people. We’re hoping all our supporters will get behind us and help us win.”
With the winners being determined by public vote, the team at Distance Befriending is urging everyone in the Highlands to get behind them and vote. Lines are open from today and close on 23rd July.
You can vote on-line at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/award or telephone 0844 836 9713 (cost 5p from landline) or via the website at www.befriendershighland.org.uk
Remember that Befrienders will be up against national charities or those based in cities, so every vote for them is vital.
One of a number of Befrienders Highland services, distance befriending enables volunteers to complete their training in their own time through a series of workbooks and telephone tutorials with their coordinator.
They are then matched with a compatible “friend” and provide regular supported friendship by phone, letter or email to people across the Highlands and Argyll and Bute.
Distance Befriending covers the whole of the Highlands, and for those with mental ill health, living in remote and widespread rural communities can increase their feelings of social isolation and loneliness. Distance Befriending has proved to be an invaluable service for many people who may not have the confidence to meet face to face, are geographically isolated, or struggle with opportunities or confidence to develop social contacts of their own.
One to one friendship and regular contact with their volunteer befriender can be a first step to helping regain confidence and re-establish trust in a society that has become alien to them.
The majority of Friends say the real value to them is that volunteers offer befriending “because they want to and not because they are paid to”, which enables the foundation for long lasting and valued friendships.
More than 120 male and female volunteers from all walks of life provide incalculable benefits to people through Distance Befriending, but volunteers also benefit from the satisfaction of doing something so worthwhile, being trained and supported in new skills and meeting other volunteers through group peer support, training and social events.
