Four Pillars launch new befriending service to assist the community during COVID-19 crisis
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Four Pillars have received funds in a bid to start a befriending service for the local LGBT+ community of Grampian.
4ever Friends has been established to combat isolation and loneliness within the community.
The additional funding for this service came from a sponsored challenge undertaken by founder Deejay Bullock, where he climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest using the stairs in his home
The service launched on Wednesday, June 10, and be open to anyone that feels they need to chat.
4ever Friends will be led by local volunteers who will be able to keep in regular contact with their buddy through phone, email and other online communications.
Four Pillars will be offering temporary mobile phones with top ups to those in financial need, as a means to stay in touch with the volunteers, and buddies will call the service user as regularly as they request to check in, ensure their well-being and lifting spirits.
Buddies will be able to maintain a relationship whilst supporting the individual, offering advice and information where needed and ensuring the person is getting the right kind of support.
This could include additional food, top-ups, utilities, sanitary products, benefits, housing, homelessness or other services.
As restrictions are slowly lifted buddies can meet up with service users if necessary, with appropriate PPE, to further improve the overall health of the service user, in some cases this could be the first person they have physically seen and spoken with for months.
Four Pillars's Deejay Bullock said “I’m thrilled this project is able to go live, we have been working on this for a while and I have been trying to raise the needed funds by climbing the height of Mount Everest via my stairs at home.
"My sincere gratitude goes out to all those that have supported that fundraiser so far.
"This service will have a huge impact on the mental and emotional health of our community, now and in the long term, and I know our volunteer team are sitting tight by the phones ready to support those in need.”
If you want to learn more about Four Pillars or 4ever Friends you can visit: www.4pillarsuk.org
