A CARING student has won a Pembrokeshire award for the friendship and support she has shown during a volunteering role.

Molly Lewis, aged 22, has received the PAVS (Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services) award for going above and beyond the call of duty in befriending a young woman needing relief from full time caring.

The Cardiff Metropolitan University Fine Arts student, who lives near Thomas Chapel, Begelly, has been befriending the 19 year-old for the past five years.

“I’m delighted to be given this award but the experience of looking out for my friend is rewarding enough,” said Molly, a former pupil of Greenhill School, Tenby.

“Just as I have helped her, so she has helped me and we are now definitely very good friends. Even if I were not continuing volunteering, we would still be good friends.”

Molly’s befriender role is part of Barnardo’s Cymru’s V-Linx project in Pembrokeshire.

Commissioned by the county council, it aims to match young people with additional needs with friendly and dedicated volunteers from the local community.

By pairing people of similar interests, it hopes to enable young people with additional needs access aspects of normal modern life that may not always be available to them.

“Molly is - and will continue to be - the model of what a successful befriender can hope to achieve,” said Jon Bell, volunteer co-ordinator of the V-Linx project in Pembrokeshire.

“Over the past five years, she has gone above and beyond the call of duty to support her friend through some difficult family times; working with her to develop her confidence and self-worth to the point where the young woman is a credit to herself, her family and the hard work which Molly herself has invested.”

The V-Linx project is actively looking for volunteers.

Anyone who can spare around two to four hours a week to help make a difference to a young person’s life can contact the project by emailing Jon Bell at jon.bell@barnardos.org.uk or call on 01437 776511.