Our Befriending team received a wonderful early Christmas present from Johnston Smillie Foundation, £1000 to buy Christmas presents for all our Befriendees!
The generous donation was made on top of the previous £700 gift to take the children to see The Snow Queen pantomime and will ensure every child gets at least one present.
Tasia Meadows from Johnston Smillie popped in to handover the donation in person. Tasia is one of our longest serving befrienders and understands just how important the work is and the positive impact it can make.
The service supports young people aged between 5 and 16 who are affected by parental drug or alcohol abuse. The key aim is to boost their confidence, help with resilience and also widen their social circle which can often be fairly limited. Many of those we support are very isolated due to their home life.
Gifts like this make a huge difference and service coordinators Nicola Campbell and Jane McColl were on hand to receive the donation.
Nicola commented: “Christmas is a time of year when every child should feel special. To be able to get a gift for each child we support is truly amazing. Combined with a trip to the pantomime, the donations from Johnston Smillie will help children make memories that last and enjoy a little bit of Christmas magic.”
Nicola and Jane get an early Christmas present from Tasia (centre)
The Befriending Service is currently recruiting new befrienders due to high demand and is especially keen to sign up more male befrienders. If you can spare a few hours, once a week, to meet with a young person and provide a positive role model then we would love to hear from you. For more information, click the link here.
