A local charity is pressing ahead with Carers Week – a national annual week-long celebration of unpaid carers and their selflessness and dedication to the people they care for.
Carers’ Resource is planning activities from 8-14 June that will mostly be held virtually on its Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Some of the events will be pre-recorded, some live and some interactive.
Offline, it is encouraging all carers and members of the public to raise a glass of their favourite drink in honour of unpaid carers at noon on 8 June to mark the start of Carers Week. An unpaid carer is anyone who, without payment, provides help and support to a friend, neighbour or relative who could not manage otherwise because of frailty, illness or disability.
Confirmed virtual events so far include parent carer workshops on a variety of subjects including completing DLA and PIP forms, chairobics, craft sessions, virtual bingo, mindfulness and relaxation, and coffee and chat sessions. For full listings see www.carersresource.org/carers-week
The theme of national Carers Week is Making Carers Visible.
Carers’ Resource chief executive Chris Whiley said:
We want more than ever to celebrate carers and encourage them that they’re playing a crucial part in the lives of their loved ones and also in wider society.
We would like to encourage all carers to have a go at online Carers Week but if that is impossible for some carers they can let us know and we can give them a call for a chat.
Another opportunity to be united, while separate, is to join us on our sponsored walk. This year is our 25th anniversary and an event staff had planned for supporters to walk 25k between the charity’s offices in Shipley and Skipton has obviously been cancelled. We are instead asking people to be sponsored to walk 25k during their exercise time during Carers Week.
Anyone who wants to get involved doesn’t have to do it all at once, and they don’t have to do the full 25k – just do something around the numbers two and five.
Contact Carers’ Resource fundraiser Claire Macina on cmacina@carersresource.org or call her on 07936 368424 to get involved or donate at www.justgiving.com/campaign/walk25
Carers’ Resource has been delivering services throughout lockdown to carers who have needed information and advice, help with form filling and applications, advocacy, wellbeing reviews and assessments, and befriending. Its hospital support services and paid-for regulated care service Care@ Carers’ Resource have also been kept open.
Ms Whiley added:
Carers have been under added pressure during lockdown, as they are cut off from their wider support networks, they’re unable to have a break, and we know some carers are feeling lonely and are concerned about their finances. We are still here to support them and would encourage carers to get in touch.
Unpaid carers in the Skipton, Bradford and Harrogate districts can contact the charity at www.carersresource.org/contact/ or call 01274 449660, 01423 500555, or 01756 700888. The charity also has Facebook and Twitter social media accounts, and a dedicated website for young carers at https://youngcarersresource.org/
