Befriended is a charity born out of a desire and passion for making a difference in the lives of lonely, isolated older people living in Mid Sussex. We’ve been a registered Charity, since 2017, and offer a range of services include face to face befriending, care and residential home visits by our chaplaincy team, community events, monthly afternoon teas, bereavement courses, and Befriended Balance; a weekly exercise class for the over 65s.
Last year Befriended were presented with a #CoronationChampionsAwards, launched by @RoyalVoluntaryService, which celebrates the work of extraordinary people who make a difference in their community across the UK. This was a wonderful award to receive and has helped our Charity reach an ever increasing audience.
In 2023 Befriended hosted over 1000 older people for afternoon tea, held over 40 exercise classes, journeyed with over 100 through bereavement courses, delivered chaplaincy to over 1000 people in their care homes, taken 126 to theatre trips & outings, launched a new weekly community choir with over 40 regular attendees, started a grief café in two venues and we finished the year by hosting over 80 for Christmas lunch!
We do all this with one full time member of staff and a part time administrator but the life blood of Befriended is our volunteers who are always on hand to help. This year make positive change with your New Year’s Resolutions and make them not just about you but about others too. If you can bake a cake, deliver some monthly newsletters, or just love to chat, you should volunteer for Befriended you should join our volunteer community and be part of ending loneliness and isolation in Mid Sussex amongst older people living in Mid Sussex. Maybe you have skills which would enable you to help us with our website or fundraising. A few hours a week would make such a difference to Befriended and the incredible community we have the privilege of serving. And it isn’t completely selfless- at Befriended our volunteers often comment they get a lot more out of giving than receiving. Have a look at some of our video clips to see why…
