A befriending service to support young people experiencing poor mental wellbeing and social isolation won the community vote at the 7^th Stirling Soup crowdfunding event.

Local mental health charity Action in Mind will use the £491 prize pot to continue the service, after losing their funding earlier this year.

Katie Heslop from Action in Mind said: “The money will go directly towards supporting young people in Stirling who are struggling with their mental health. It’ll help pay for the activities they do and cover travel expenses. We don’t have any statutory funding and rely solely on donations, so winning nearly £500 is brilliant and will keep the service going for a considerable amount of time.”

The service currently supports 5 children in the Stirling area.

Volunteer befriender, Mark Robertson, said: “The group gives the young people an opportunity to engage in a variety of activities away from their normal living environment. I enjoy encouraging the young people to socialise with other group members and to take part in the activities. My biggest observation while leading the group is always the difference of their general wellbeing from the start of the meeting toward the end of the meeting. The young people appear to be more confident in themselves and their ability to be active and healthy as the meeting progresses. The group members are just as encouraging towards each other as the volunteers are towards the group members. There is a lovely, positive energy within the group and I believe this is down to everyone’s willingness to try new things and a belief in themselves which is evident in their capability to adapt to new environments.”

Stirling Soup marked the final event of this year’s Festival of Volunteering, a month packed with events to inspire citizens to volunteer. During the festival nearly 30 local organisations, from Plus Forth Valley to Strathcarron Hospice, were given the chance to promote their volunteering opportunities in the Thistles Shopping Centre.

The annual festival, organised by Volunteer Scotland in partnership with Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise and Stirling Council, also saw an awards ceremony to recognise Stirling’s thriving volunteering community and several opportunities to take part in the UK’s largest participatory art project The Cube at venues across the city.

Families living in urban areas were also given the chance to visit Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park to take part in a volunteering day where they learnt bush craft, surveyed plants and took part in an archaeological investigation.

Natalie Masterson, Chief Executive of SVE said: “As this year’s Festival draws to a close its been fantastic to see how many local organisations have come together and engaged in promoting, supporting and celebrating all things volunteering for another year. We hope this theme will continue, not just throughout September, but the whole year round, keeping the motivation and enthusiasm we have seen for volunteering these past few weeks at the forefront of our City and local communities.”