Our Aims:

The aim of Community Link Up is to integrate people with learning disabilities more fully into the life of the community through friendship. We support people in forming friendships between those who come forward as volunteers and our friends with learning disabilities who have asked "can you find me a friend?"

Our volunteers come from all walks of life and all have different reasons for wanting to be involved. The thing that links them all is that after a while they all say "I get much more out of it than I put in". It is the natural essence of the friendships that makes them so valuable.

For our friends with learning disabilities it is the joy of getting a phone call, a birthday card or just looking forward to going shopping that makes their friendships so rewarding. The chance to respect and be respected, to give and to receive, to have someone who is not family or staff to share things with.

Part of our training for new volunteers is explaining that to enjoy the words which describe feelings and values, first you have to do the words which describe actions and items. This is the way we all form friendships. It is the best way to feel that you are really part of society.

To achieve our aims we:

Recruit, Train and Support volunteers from all sectors of the community.

Set up and support self-regulating groups to provide a variety of one-to-one and group friendships for people living in families, residential homes and other settings.

Organise integrated activities such as the 1:1 club, special dances, outings, educational and cultural activities.

Produce recruiting and training videos, course syllabi and literature, guidelines for friends, carers and volunteers.

Arrange exhibitions and talks to promote a greater awareness and a deeper understanding of people with a learning disability and their place in the community.

Assist other organisations with similar aims.

Continually strive in a variety of ways to raise the necessary funding, which provides us with the financial resources to fulfil our aims, achieve our goals and improve our service.

Our Statement of Values: