A Busy Last Day of the Year…
The No.1 Befriending Agency had a busy day today. We launched our newest Impact Report, that covers the period between September 2019 and 2020. To the launch, we invited befriendees, volunteers, funders, donors, referring and partner organisations as well as carers. We had a fun-packed hour when we heard from volunteers and befriendees who have shared their personal stories, we had a wee taster session of our regular virtual events and the Impact Report and our annual statistics were presented in the more ‘official’ part of the event.
The taster session included ‘Mr. Motivator’ Scott Reid, who has been volunteering to hold armchair exercises on our weekly virtual events. His session is usually 15-20 minutes long every Wednesday morning, and have been very helpful in beating the ‘lockdown blues’ for the attendees and in strengthening those forgotten-about muscles. Yours truly could feel her shoulder muscles working today even in the five-minute taster session!
Although our regular events volunteer musician, Arthur, could not be there today, we had his permission to share a video of his wonderful singing and guitar playing, to give the event’s attendees a bit of a taster of what goes on in the weekly virtual gatherings - although it’s probably no secret that we love Arthur, and we ask him to play for us whenever he can!
On the event, we also heard from volunteers, Alpha, Jackie and Catherine, who have all shared what they gained from befriending or attending and leading events and how much they have been enjoying it. Lorraine, another telephone volunteer could not be there but sent a lovely message for us to play on the event, that included stories of bird feeding and other mishaps…
We were privileged to have Rena, Rebecca, Annabelle and Betty on the call, who, thanks to previous training by Tom, could of course log in seamlessly, and completely shone in the spotlight. They are all befriendees who also log in to our virtual events and would never miss even one. Becca beautifully explained how the events ‘opened a door for her’ in her heart but also in her mind, and have been keen on looking up the topics that were talked about in the events afterwards; while Rena enjoyed that having the skills to use Zoom now allows her to talk to her grandchildren abroad.
Lea, Joanna and Audrey, representing the organisation, talked respectively about the tools used for the measurement of the social impact this year; thanked the No.1 Team and everyone for allowing this impact to be made and collecting the necessary data; and explained how the carers, funders and donors together contributed to this impact.
It was a perfect ending to an eventful and impactful year.
However, this was not all that happened.
The organisation also had to say goodbye to three of its employees, to Lisa and Tom, who have both worked tirelessly to make the virtual events the success they were; and to Holly, who made a great impact by establishing lasting bonds with other organisations as Outreach Worker for our Govan Project.
It was a privilege to work with those three, who will all be sorely missed and who have all made their lasting mark on the organisation and its clients.
With this bittersweet ending, all of us at The No.1 Befriending Agency would like to send you all our best wishes for the new year, and look forward to bringing you more projects and news in 2021!
xxx
