So what is our story..if you have time for a cuppa and a read we would love to tell you the potted version of our 25 year journey to date.

Whilst the last 3 months has undoubtedly changed our practice, and it is true to say Coronavirus has been very challenging for our staff and carer community, we remain desperately proud to share the story of our 25 year development and hope it gives you great confidence in the Charity you have chosen to contribute your funds towards.

In 1991 the Scarborough and Ryedale area was selected as the site for one of 6 multi-agency projects across Yorkshire (4 in North Yorkshire) to be supported by the Kings Fund to raise awareness of carers issues. The project was at this point managed by North East Yorkshire NHS Trust on behalf of a multi-disciplinary steering group.

In 1993 the first county-wide multi-agency Carers Strategy was launched in North Yorkshire. With its development came the investment of funding to establish 4 locality level Carers Resource centres: Scarborough Borough and Ryedale District / Hambleton and Richmondshire / York and Selby (divided into two separate charities in 2009) / Harrogate and Craven.

Building on these foundations, Scarborough & Ryedale Carers Resource was established as a Registered Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee in 1995. The Charity was originally based in offices in Malton (Malton Hospital, then a portacabin in Wentworth Street Car Park) and Pickering, before relocating in April 2009 to new premises in Snainton.

The Charity has established a strong reputation over the years and has been involved in many innovative projects that have improved the understanding, appreciation and face of caring across the area.

Established initially as an adult and older carers support service, one of the main ambitions of the charity from the start, was a commitment to develop a service to support Young Carers and Young Adult Carers across Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale as soon as the opportunity arose. In December 2013 the Local Authority and the Clinical Commissioning Groups decided to put out a tender for both the young carer and adult carer service. These services previously had always been grant based and offered directly to the established carers support centres, so this marked a significant change.

Given the opportunity, our Board of Trustees made the decision to form a collaborative partnership with Hambleton and Richmondshire Carers Centre. At the time we felt this gave us a fighting chance to compete with much larger regional and national charities to secure the tender locally. We were right and as a result of our collaboration and a strong application, we were successful with our joint bid and awarded the contract for the provision of services to young carers aged 8-18.

We were now able to build a strong, all-age service for carers 8 years to 105 years!

Over the course of the following years, our funding base became a healthy mixture of Local Authority Contracts, grants and project funded by organisations such as The Community Fund, Children in Need, and other generous donors.

Looking at the organisation today we have 3 clear ambitions:

To be the go-to centre of excellence for carers in our local areas of Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale

To continue providing a high-quality service for carers at any point in their caring journey

To support the wider community in new ventures and services the organisation may secure as part of its on-going development work

As a local, independent charity, our on-going business challenge will be to continue driving forward these three ambitions, whilst providing a wide range of important and needed services in a climate of ever reducing government funds and statutory service provision. In order for us to remain both influencers and implementers of strategic and operational services, our relationship with organisations such as the Local Clinical Commissioning Group/s, the NHS, Public Health and Local Authorities closest to us, will be critical to our on-going success.

Our work to represent and champion the local needs of unpaid carers on important bodies such as the NYCC Wellbeing Board , within the NY Loneliness Strategy, NY Carers Strategy or through our national work with Carers Trust and Carers UK will ensure that the rights of unpaid carers as specified within the Care Act 2014 and Families and Childrens Act 2014, will continue to drive forward a world-class service in our area.

For 25 years, our mission has been to provide high-quality information, advice and support to unpaid family carers within our local communities. These groups include the following:

Young carers, children aged between 8 and 18 who are negatively impacted as a result of their caring role; supporting them to build the skills they need to reduce this impact.

Young adult carers aged between 16 and 25 who are balancing their transition into adulthood in terms of personal, educational and social development, alongside their caring responsibilities.

Adult carers who are often managing the emotional, social, financial and physical impact as a result of their caring situation. Our role here is to listen, support and empower them to better balance their own health and wellbeing alongside their caring responsibilities and everyday life.

Diversification: Over recent years we have extended our role to include support for other vulnerable adults (non-carers) within our immediate geography. Our need to change is in-part a response to the uncertainty of the current funding landscape. The struggle to survive is never far from any small, local charitys mind and more than ever, the amount and availability of funding opportunities is both challenging and competitive to navigate. We believe our sustainability matters as we currently support over 2,000 carers per annum and we know this support makes a difference. Our plan to diversify to include support for non-carers, has not compromised our traditional delivery base at all, but it has had quite the reverse affect allowing us to reach deeper into the heart of our local communities, find more hidden carers, learn from new experiences and broaden the scope of funding opportunities.

Carers will always be at the heart of our work, but as we implement our plans to diversify, we aim to reach many other people who do not have someone to care for them, their wellbeing or their needs in terms of living a well-balanced life.

Adding to our portfolio: We continue to work on our additional portfolio, this currently includes three services, recently secured and open to carers and non-carers:

Action Towards Inclusion: An employment and training support programme specifically looking at encouraging people to build on their strengths and skills in order to address barriers to future employment/self-employment opportunities. For our most vulnerable, this may be after caring or following a period of poor mental health that has taken away the self-confidence to do this alone.

Home from Hospital service looks to support vulnerable adults returning from hospital, to make sure they have the confidence and tools to keep themselves well, physically and mentally, giving them a fighting chance of recovery and reducing potential re-admissions.

My Neighbourhood: a wellbeing and prevention service, working with members of the community who are experiencing periods of isolation and loneliness those who, without support, may have become hidden and potentially even forgotten.

The last two years has seen the organisation grow exponentially. Our investment has been largely in our staff team ensuring value-based recruitment has seen the growth of a professional staff team who can meet the demands of a small, busy and energetic organisation.

Thank you for taking the time to read through our story. Please be assured that every penny raised through this fundraising adventure will be reserved for frontline carer services.