Our Services for Children are Under Threat
We need your help to raise £110,000 over the next year to avoid service cuts.
Our community-based befriending and mentoring services are life-changing. We work with children aged 8 to 18.
“If we are genuinely aiming to ‘get it right for every child’ in Glasgow and Scotland, we can’t afford to lose these services,” said Dr Tom Berry, Chair at Volunteer Glasgow. “I’m also a panel member at Children’s Hearings and know how needed, and hugely important, these resources are for the welfare and future lives of the city’s young people.” 
Every child who was matched with a volunteer last year achieved one or more key outcomes – providing an element of protection, increasing confidence/self-esteem, skills, engagement in community activities, and/or accessing services for the wider family.
In August, 18-year-old Ricky’s match of two years came to its planned conclusion. He said, “I have learned how to interact with people, my confidence has grown – I know this because I never used to talk to people. Having John as my befriender helped me to talk to my family more.”
Carole has been volunteering as a Befriender for the last 15 years. “It has to be one of the greatest things I’ve ever done in my spare time. It’s great fun. But it’s built on trust, mutual respect and the excellent foundations of training, support and supervision provided by the small staff team. And it’s made a massive difference to the children and young people I’ve been matched with.”
Volunteers deliver a powerful message because they are unpaid: they choose to consistently spend time with our children and young people which has an immediate and enduring, positive impact on children’s self-esteem.
Originally set up with 100 per cent grant funding from central then local government, these services are now wholly supported by charitable trusts and individual donations – despite most of the children and young people being referred by colleagues in statutory services in Education and Social Work (HSCP).
Volunteer Glasgow urgently needs support to maintain these services:
- £10 will fund one befriending visit/outing.
- £500 will provide a child and their befriender/mentor with a year’s activity costs and ensures the befriender/mentor is never out-of-pocket because of their volunteering.
- £3,500 will provide sufficient funding for a year to support one child.
- You can also support us by playing the Glasgow Community Lottery (Yaldi)! Click here to learn more…
Mentoring and Befriending relationships are based on equality, mutuality and respect. Our young people actively choose to be involved and our mentors and befrienders willingly volunteer their time and skills as adults.
The Services currently hold an “Excellent” level rating with the Quality in Befriending Award: click here to view the QiB Award listings on Befriending Networks.
Watch our Young People’s stories on YouTube:
Need more details on volunteering as a mentor/befriender? Click here to find out how to apply
Thank you for your support!
