Age UK Bexley needs your vote

Age UK Bexley’s Befriending Café project has been put forward to the Aviva Community Fund public vote for investment.

Age UK Bexley Befriending Cafe's are a key part of our support and social activity provision. All are led and run by their volunteers and cafe members. The cafes are critical to the charity's work in combating social isolation and loneliness in the borough. They are a dynamic and friendly way to improve health, develop friendships and often act as an information and referral resource to the charity's other services.

The projects development objectives are to achieve the following:

Social and Physical Activity - Each of our existing befriending café's offer opportunities for social connections, light physical exercise and peer support. They are situated in publicly accessible settings, libraries and community centres, near good transport hubs within easy reach of other local amenities. Buildings are all DDA compliant and invariable multi - disciplinary meaning those attending the café can gain access to other resources on offer at the same site. Investment will enable the charity to initiate similar provision in the North of the borough where we are underrepresented, and where rates of loneliness are highest.

Befriending - Each Befriending Café is a community based extension of our existing befriending service. Capacity is increased by volunteer befrienders linking existing and new referrals to the group provision. They support an introduction to other co - users of the service, and help build confidence in getting there and meeting new people. Our Sidcup Café for example has seen befriendee's developing social contact and friendship beyond the supported provision, organising afternoon teas in each other’s homes.

Volunteer and peer led - Volunteers are critical to the design and delivery of each café. Working with those using the cafe's they identify interests and needs that shape what is available in each of the existing venues. The charity sees this as a successful model for sustainable delivery both in terms of user led design but also in terms of inclusion, flexibility and accessibility.

Please follow the link below and make your vote count

Share this unique project link far and wide with your friends, family and the other supporters of the charity and secure our votes:

https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/4-886