Grampian Region 2020 Charity Selection

Befriend a Child is a local charity which supports children and young people growing up in difficult life circumstances across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to help them achieve their full potential and develop into confident and competent young adults.

We offer 1:1 and group befriending and mentoring programmes and projects for school aged children and young people. At the heart of what we do are committed and passionate volunteers who are trained and supported by our experienced staff team.

Through providing a positive adult role model and positive life experiences our volunteers help children and young people build confidence and self esteem as well as develop new life interests and skills. In time this can have a transformational effect and allow the child to deal positively with the challenges and realise their full potential.

Each year we support over 250 children and work with over 270 volunteers. There is an increasing demand for our services and we currently have a waiting list of 58 children. Our work has been recognised through several awards including The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, Befriending Network’s Quality in Befriending Award and Investing in Volunteers’ Award. Our team are committed to delivering excellence to the children, families and volunteers we support.

Our city-centre location is home to our staff team and houses quality facilities for use by the volunteers and children such as a kitchen, Playzone and media room. A report by Deloitte concluded that for every £1 we receive; we deliver £6.13 of benefits to young people and society.