What is a YOPEY Befriender, some of you will ask?

A YOPEY Befriender (YB) is a young person who volunteers to befriend lonely care home residents.

The YOPEY Befriender scheme is run by the YOPEY charity, of which I am the founder.

Before the pandemic I started a new YOPEY Befriender partnership between Kasey's sixth-form college in Dereham and a local care home.

Kasey was one of about 20 sixth-formers who were trained by me and taken to YOPEY House. They learned how to befriend people with dementia as the majority of elderly people living in care homes have these terrible diseases.

She had visited the care home a couple of times when the Coronavirus struck and all care homes were locked down before the rest of us.

Now care homes residents were isolated as well as lonely.

While most of her fellow Dereham College YBs faded away, Kasey asked me what she could do.

She made music video and then she helped me produce about 20 YOPEY Virtual Variety Shows, which you can still see on YouTube today.

Kasey said I was a demanding task-master but she truly loved editing these videos and contributed many acts herself.

Inspired by her experience as a YB, between sixth-form and uni, Kasey got a job as an activities coordinator at another care home.

I found her a penpal for one of her residents.

Kasey was an outstanding YOPEY Befriender and I will miss her.

Tony Gearing MBE