| Fun plea for more male befrienders |
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| Tuesday, 12 February 2008 00:00 | |||
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Fun's Anne McLaren has made a plea for more male volunteers to come forward as befrienders with the charity. Many of Fun's children come from disadvantaged lone parent families where there can be a lack of positive male role models in their lives. This is a problem which is exacerbated by the wide-scale shortage of male teachers in Brighton's primary and secondary schools. Over 60% of the children on Fun's waiting list are boys and, whilst many would respond well to female befrienders, in some cases a male befriender can sometimes make an even greater difference in their life. Fun volunteer, Ralph Crane, has befriended 17 year old Chris for the past 6 years. Ralph stresses the importance of quality one to one time and 'male bonding,' and Chris is now a successful 'A' level student with aspirations to get into university and pursue a career in the army. Ralph has now just begun his second Fun friendship and is even getting some assistance from Chris. Derek Hayes has been befriending a 6 year old boy for over a year. He too has noticed the difference that his input can make in terms of breaking down gender stereotypes and changing a child's preconceptions about the world of school and work. It is one of our aspirations at Fun in Action to raise children's ambitions in life and to try and enhance their ability to take advantage of as many different opportunities as possible.
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