News
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...
Running club raises £1270 for YOPEY
A sports club from a town near YOPEY's HQ has raised over £1200 for the charity during the pandemic. Haverhill Running Club raised £1269.58 for YOPEY at the height of covid-19. The club’s immediate past chair Hayley Wilson presented a cheque to the charity’s founder...
Survey of virtual YOPEY Befrienders
‘Virtual’ YOPEY Befriender is a winner for young and old, care homes and schools. A pioneering scheme that brings together elderly care home residents and teenage school students in friendship and companionship hopes to emerge from covid stronger than ever. The...
A few exchanges between young people and their elderly friends
A few exchanges between young people and their elderly friends AGE OF WISDOM – extracts from visit reports by YOPEY Befrienders “I took part in a quiz with residents. The questions were quite hard – it seems the residents’ general knowledge is much better than...
YOPEY Befriender during the pandemic
In normal times this charity runs befriending schemes between schools and care homes, mainly in the East of England. We have contributed to homes being upgraded by the CQC. We aim to return to face-to-face befriending in the autumn of 2022. Meanwhile, we are inviting...
Befriending benefits young & old
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, Mary would always smile and wave at him. This all sounds very ordinary until you learn the man had dementia and Mary...