Omagh volunteers brighten people’s day with befriending campaign

REDUCING loneliness and isolation for people, enhancing their lives and promoting friendship is the aim of a community project run by a local volunteer group.

‘B-Friend Hub’ is a home and telephone befriending service delivered by Omagh Volunteer Centre across Omagh, Fermanagh and Strabane.

Daily morning calls are made to over 50+ people in the town and surrounding areas by a team of dedicated, passionate, and committed volunteers who receive training and support to enable them to fulfill their role of helping people stay connected within their communities.

One of the people who use the service is Breege Quinn, who says that the phone calls are a ‘lifeline to the outside world’ as she is often on her own due to ill-health and the death of her brother, whom she was very close to.

“I lost my brother two years ago and since then I do very little socialising. I could’ve  seen weeks go by without talking to anybody.”

MUCH BETTER

“But now, since I started speaking to people from the volunteer centre, my life is much better. I get a couple of calls a week and we just chat about what I am doing in life.

“Last year, I was very ill with Covid, and had to be hospitalised.

“I still got my calls even in the hospital. These phone calls have become a real lifeline for me. I always hear a friendly voice, and they talk to me about a whole range of things.

“It could just be a friendly chat about how I am, and what I’ve been up to, or I could chat with them about an issue I am having.

“I really would like to thank all the volunteers who I’ve spoken to you’ve been amazing.”

DEDICATED

A dedicated team of volunteers gives up their time to participate in the program, which sees people befriend people over the age of 60 who need support or just fancy a chat.

Another service user is Bridget Carlin, an 82-year-old woman who has a family of four children and eight grandchildren.

Bridget says she is a very social person who enjoys a chat and that the befriending service is great because volunteers from the service are always there to talk to her.

“I am 82 years old and I don’t get out as much as I used to,” she said. “I love chatting and socialising, and the lockdown was particularly hard. I couldn’t go out at all, however, but, because of the befriending scheme, I was still in regular contact with people who weren’t just my family. It meant even though I was in the house, I could still be social.”

Another user of the service is Joe McGinn, who lives in Killyclogher. Joe has bad mobility, and visits the B-friend hub for a chat and to meet people.

INVALUABLE

Joe said, “Going into the hub is great.

“I don’t get a lot of opportunities to go out, chat and socialise, so the hub is a great way for me to meet people and sit and have a coffee.

“The volunteers are all great people, and trained to talk about all sorts of things, and have really helped me out through some very tough times.

“They were especially great through Covid, as I have ill health and a bad immune system, so I was a bit scared to go out.

“The phone calls I got were invaluable at that time.”

Joe added, “I would recommend the service to anyone out there who is feeling lonely or need some support to use it.

“I couldn’t thank the hub enough for all the help they’ve given me.”

Anyone interest in volunteering can do so. Volunteering is from home and full training will be provided.

If you are interested, contact the Beyond the Call Project on 07591 952133 or email laurencethebefriendhub.org.