Students challenged to write about: why I want to be a befriender?

When YOPEY founder Tony Gearing spoke to about 60 sixth-formers at All Saints' Catholic Academy in Mansfield about becoming befrienders in Runwood's local Maun View care home more than 30 volunteered.

To whittle this number down and find out who was really keen the school asked the students to write a letter about why they wanted to become a YOPEY Befriender.

Be inspired! Here are eight of their replies...

Befriender wins 'Oscar' for visiting dying man

A Hemel Hempstead sixth-former who befriended an elderly man until the day he died came third in Hertfordshire's Young People of the Year awards or the 'YOPEYs'.

YOPEYs are Oscars for young people who 'give to others'. The growing movement was founded in Hertfordshire 10 years ago by a former national newspaper journalist to give the younger generation a 'good press'.

Seventeen-year-old Erik Kerr was one of nearly 40 sixth-formers from John F Kennedy Catholic School who took part in a trial

'I learned to look outside my immediate surroundings'

Past YOPEY finalist Alex Wells talks about volunteering at a care home

Alex Wells volunteered once a week at a nursing home, where some of the residents have dementia and age-related problems, before going to university. 



“I started volunteering a couple of hours every week at a local nursing home. I feel I not only made an impact on others, but also became a better person as a result.



“The elderly are a particularly vulnerable group of people and can often