News
The passing of ‘Our Queen’ by YOPEY’s Patron
It is with a very heavy heart that we learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – the world’s greatest queen. As well as being the longest reigning British Monarch, Her Majesty was also the longest reigning female monarch in world history. In 1947 at the...
Tribute to past YOPEY winner who has died aged 30
I received this email from the mother of a past Young Person of the Year last week: Hi Tony – Just a little message to tell you my beautiful daughter Stacey lost her fight this morning and gained her angel wings at 5:37 – Regards Sharon When I started Young People of...
From YOPEY Befriender to care home worker
By Kasey Challenger, age 20 When I started sixth form, I was struggling with insecurity about what I wanted to do when I left. I had a rough idea that I wanted to study psychology at university but I was unsure where this would put me in a few years’ time. When I...
Befriending benefits young & old, schools & care homes
Every Sunday afternoon the old man would wait at the window for that first glimpse of his friend coming to visit him. Before she entered the care home, the teenager would always smile and wave at him. This all sounds very ordinary until you learn the old man had...
Activities to Stimulate Body, Mind and Soul for Care Home Residents
The UK’s care homes are filled with a wide variety of elderly people, many of whom want to continue living an active and vital life. One way to do this is to continue with old friendships or encourage new ones. The charity YOPEY offers care homes the opportunity to...
Six care homes can save £4,000 on having YOPEY Befrienders
YOPEY, which has been supporting 2,000 care homes nationwide with young people’s letters during the pandemic, is returning to in-home visits this autumn and is looking for six homes to take part in the heavily subsidised scheme. The charity, which has been running...
Schools, get pupils to ‘write letters to Queen’ about Jubilee
YOPEY is appealing for schools in the East of England to 'write letters to the Queen' to mark the Platinum Jubilee in a scheme backed by the Queen's representatives in the region. All the letters will be shared by YOPEY with elderly people living in care homes. The...
Publication aimed at young people who struggled during pandemic
This charity's founder – Tony Gearing MBE – saw young people struggling with their mental health during the pandemic. They feared the disruption of their education had destroyed their future, and many still do. Tony wondered what he could do to help... From 2004 to...
Our Patron – Robert Voss CBE CStJ
Pictured with his wife Celia, Robert Voss CBE CStJ is Patron of the YOPEY charity. The first set of letters after his name stand for Commander of the most excellent order of the British Empire. He was made a CBE in 2014 in the New Year Honours for his ‘Contribution to...
2,000th care home joins YOPEY’s free service during pandemic
YOPEY has notched up the 2,000th care home it is supporting for free since the start of the pandemic. Before coronavirus, this small, registered charity worked in about a dozen homes a year. The charity would recruit and train older schoolchildren to befriend elderly...