Brentford Community Sports Trust offer respite to hundreds of young carers

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Life in lockdown is challenging for most people, but think how challenging this is for young carers who have an incredible responsibility to care for their parents or relatives who are unwell.

Aliyah is 17 and has cared for her Mum since she was six years old. Her responsibilities involve doing the shopping, cleaning the house, cooking for the family and when her mum isn’t very well, taking her up to bed. All of this, alongside studying and working at the weekend to pay for things she wants.

Since lockdown, Aliyah has had to leave her job due to isolation and continue caring for her mum as she is at risk if she leaves the house.  

Aliyah has been attending Brentford Football Club Community Sports Trust’s Young Carers project since she was 10 and believes the project has offered her huge support and respite in her life. This hasn’t stopped during this difficult time.

She said:

“The young carers project has been a constant over the years for me, it has supported me and helped me figure out my place in the world, all while having fun!”

Brentford’s Young Carers project has been running for over 9 years supporting young carers with group sessions to meet young people in a similar situations, homework clubs, weekly youth clubs, and activities to offer respite. Since lockdown occurred, Brentford have been engaging through online platforms hosting quizzes, drop-ins and contacting each young carer to check in on their welfare and offer support during this difficult time.

Aliyah continued:

“The support has been great since we’ve had to isolate. I have had a few calls from Brentford. It’s nice to know that other people are thinking about you and offering help. I’m going to join one of the weekly online quizzes as it would be  great to see some familiar faces from the programme.”

Kathryn Sobczak, Young Carers Co-ordinator, has noticed the transformation of Aliyah over her time on the programme;

She said;

“Aliyah has been part of the young carers project for 7 years now, starting off quite a quiet young girl, now full of confidence. This is really evident for us to see throughout the time we have known her. She has stepped up in the project to support the younger carers, acting as a mentor.

“In more recent years Aliyah has attended our transition project to support her with CV writing, interview skills and attending to get an insight to the working world.”

Aliyah has also expressed a keen interest in giving back and volunteering at the Young Carers programme that has supported her over the years, when she reaches 18 and her time on the programme ends.

During lockdown, Aliyah was keen to share her journey and have her voice heard through NCS’ ‘Youth Rising’ Podcast. Please click here to listen.

Joy of Moving moves online to support families

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The Joy of Moving programme has been supporting year 5 children across EFL Communities in the UK for the past 6 years. The Joy of Moving programme has consisted of two elements; the Move & Learn project and Joy of Moving Festivals. Over 300,000 children have been introduced to moving and learning new skills all while having fun and playing.

Now, in challenging times with us all in lockdown, we have moved the programme that is traditionally delivered by our Football Club Community coaches in schools to online to help more families benefit from the fun games and activities. Our aim is to teach children how to enjoy moving through play and to help them develop positive habits for their future. These are great games to play with your children to get them moving and most importantly playing!

The games and activities are based on the unique Joy of Moving methodology, developed by Ferrero with key independent parties including Foro Italico (Rome University) and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). This methodology inspires children to move through play across the world, whilst developing key skills in four major areas: physical fitness, motor coordination, cognitive functions and creativity and life skills. 

This is not just another set of exercises or a cardiovascular workout which can often switch children off and make them feel under pressure. This is a method of offering you a series of fun games to play with your family, in a way that they will enjoy. We understand that you may not have all the time in the world so we’ve deliberately made the games short and bite sized, to get them moving and having fun! They can be done at home in a lounge, garden or any space you can find!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing the Joy of Moving games and activities on our social media channels and you can find them all on our website www.joyofmovingresourcehub.co.uk.

You’ll find a range of games and activities you can do at home including Elastic Bridge, The Mirror and The Cap Race.

Join us now to experience the Joy of Moving and bring that joy into your home! Share your fun moments with us through #JoyofMoving.

Supporters encouraged to walk a mile for Charlton Upbeats

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Charlton Athletic Community Trust’s (CACT’s) annual fundraiser for its Down’s syndrome programme, the Charlton Upbeats, has this year become a 1-mile walk to be done individually due to the COVID-19 pandemic

  • 1-mile Upbeats Walk taking place on 25 April (11am-1pm)
  • £10,000 group target to keep project running for another year

Saturday 25 April remains the date of annual Upbeats Walk, but supporters are encouraged to walk a mile at some point between 11am and 1pm and donate online.

The Charlton Upbeats programme for young people and adults with Down’s syndrome has been running for 12 years and is entirely funded by voluntary donations.

Due to the government’s guidance on mass gatherings, CACT is urging as many supporters as possible to walk 1 mile, donate £10 to the project and nominate someone to do the same.

Participants could do this at home, in their gardens or during their daily exercise in their local area but are encouraged to follow government guidelines.

Last year’s walk raised more than £24,000. With some trips cancelled, however, this year’s target has been lowered to £10,000.

Carl Krauhaus, CACT’s Head of Early Help & Prevention, said:

“Following the generosity of supporters in previous years which has helped us build a limited amount of cash reserves for unforeseen circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to lower this year’s fundraising target. This is because we have fewer activities planned for the Upbeats over the next few months having unfortunately had to cancel a number of trips scheduled due to the pandemic.

“However, it’s vital we do reach the £10,000 target to keep the Upbeats running for another year, and we’re very grateful for all the support the programme has received since it started, which we hope can be repeated even at this difficult time.”

Mother of Charlton Upbeat William said:

“For my son William, it means everything. It’s the highlight of his week and also for the parents it’s fantastic, because we get together, we’ve got something in common with our children and it’s comradery for the children as well as the parents.”

A significant number of Charlton players, past and present, have done the walk or donated to the programme in the past.

Look out for more information and some special features about the Upbeats on CACT and Charlton’s Athletic’s social media channels next week.

The next edition of the weekly CACT quiz with former Charlton player Scott Minto on Thursday 23 April will have a special focus on the Upbeats including a number of questions about the history of the programme.

Fans who are unable to walk a mile but would still like to donate to the programme, can do so by clicking here.

EFL Trust Fiercely Proud of their Club Community Organisations

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The EFL Trust has always been fiercely proud of its network of Football Club Community Organisations and the outstanding role that they play in their communities day in day out…but never has this been more true than in the past 4 weeks.

Over the 4 weeks, Club Community Organisations, whose work for many years has been centred around working with and helping groups of people, have had to adapt rapidly.

So often, the key principle of these Football Club charities is utilising the ability of the Football Club badge to bring people together to enhance and improve their lives….be it by supporting their education, physical health, mental wellbeing or the cohesion of communities overall.  

As the Government advice around large and then even small gatherings changed and schools closed, the weekly sessions that have defined our organisations had to change. And change they have.

Adaptation was necessary, but it is easier to adapt sometimes when there is a really good reason to do so. And in the case of over 70 Football Club Community Organisations, the reason is people. People are at the heart of what they do. Hundreds of places on Easter holiday clubs made way for food deliveries for the vulnerable…weekly sessions that brought disabled children together, became online sessions to support movement in the home…girls football sessions became projects supporting the delivery of women’s sanitary and hygiene packs to those most in need. Existing partnerships have strengthened and new partnerships have formed…and all against the backdrop of an unprecedented landscape for both the country and football.

Across the 3 divisions of the English Football League, change has happened swiftly and with one common purpose…to continue to serve the needs of the people in the Club’s local community.

At Cambridge United, under the banner of the Club’s ‘Here for U’s’ campaign, Cambridge’s Community Trust have been working tirelessly to provide practical, emotional and physical support to their area.

Their response takes into consideration the variety of people and their needs in the local community and aims to provide exactly what their community needs to get them through this difficult time.

Sam Gomarsall, Community Trust Manager, explains:

“These are unprecedented times and the Club wants to do everything it can to play its part in helping our community through this. Naturally, we’re having to adapt our approach to community work but we’re as committed as ever to being there for our local community when they need us the most.”

Amongst the many strands of work under the Here For U’s project, Cambridge United Community Trust have teamed up with the Cambridge City Council’s Food Poverty Alliance, to ensure that vulnerable children in the area will continue to get the meals they need during the holiday period. Cambridge United’s club catering manager has volunteered to work with the Trust to ensure meals are prepared and the team then distribute them to homes. Additionally, the Trust’s award winning ‘Mind Your Head’ project, supporting young people (normally face to face in schools) has gone online, to ensure as many local children continue to receive the support they need.

In Blackpool, serving some of the most deprived wards in the country, CEO of Blackpool’s Community Trust, Ashley Hackett explains,

“My team have been absolutely amazing their response. Staff members continue to work from home, developing a host of ways to stay in contact with our participants and partner organisations.

“Our education and employability teams have developed virtual classrooms to continue to educate our students and maintain some regularity for them. Participants are continuing to have for classes each day and complete their normal work, but just from home.

“Some don’t have laptops, so we have sent them home with ours and some don’t have Wi-Fi in their homes so we are sending paper based assignments for them to complete and we are calling them to talk through the subjects, whilst we investigate if we can get them online in their houses.

“On request, our school delivery teams have continued to support educational establishments that are open for key workers and are short staffed. Our secondary schools team have been putting challenges and ideas together to support teenagers’ resilience and mental wellbeing.”

Showing how vital partnership has always been and continues to be, the team at Wigan Athletic Community Trust acted swiftly to ensure that their team would be supporting the right effort locally.

Ian Gaskell, who has been coordinating Latics’ COVID 19 response, is keen to stress that their work is part of a much wider local team response.      

“There are a lot of local organisations involved in the effort. What we decided when the enormity of the situation became clear is that we need to use our resources in the best way possible and that obviously means being part of a combined effort.” 

The Community Trust works with a wide variety of partners on a weekly basis, so as Gaskell explains, finding out where they could help most effectively happened very quickly:

“We made lots of phone calls to our partners in particular Wigan Council, who are leading the response locally. However we also spoke to food banks and homeless charities to see what they were doing and how we can best help them. Things like picking up PPE from the council and delivering it to local care homes.”

The other area where the Community Trust work is proving invaluable is their understanding and unique connection to the community. Tom Flower, Wigan Athletics Head of Community says, “We are a club, like many others around the country, which is right in the heart of our community. We engaged directly with close to 15,000 people last year. The nature of our work means most of these fall into the category of vulnerable. Each of the people had average contact time of 24 hours, so we have an understanding of their needs.”

 “One of the first calls we made was to a gentleman on one of our programmes who we recognised as the kind of guy that would not want to ask for help, but we know he has a responsibility for caring for his grandchildren. The phone call quickly identified that he was struggling to put food on the table. We were able to make an emergency referral on his behalf and within 24 hours he’d received a food delivery.”   

Due to their locations at the heart of communities, Football Club Community Organisations work with some of the most vulnerable members of the community and ensuring that they are not further affected by the current situation is a key priority.

Mike Evans, Chief Executive Officer of the EFL Trust, said:

“Our Club Community Organisations have continued to be both outstanding and vital in their local communities over the past few weeks. They have set up call centres for participants to engage with them, delivered thousands of food parcels to those most in need and considered the physical and mental health of their participants through new online fitness, education and support systems.

“Nationally, as well as locally, we are working with key partners to ensure that our programmes such as NCS, FIT FANS, Joy of Moving and our University of South Wales degree courses continue to be delivered to the participants whose lives will be enhanced by the support. We are proud to represent such a powerful network…more so than ever at this time.”

Wigan Athletic: Using the power of teamwork to help the vulnerable

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Whether it’s delivering PPE to 13 care homes, over 150 food packages to vulnerable people or making food drops to distribution centres, Wigan Athletic Community Trust have become a key part of their community’s response to COVID-19. However, Ian Gaskell, who has been coordinating Latic’s COVID 19 response, is keen to stress that the Community Trust’s work is part of a much wider team effort.

Gaskell says: “There are a lot of local organisations involved in the effort. What we decided when the enormity of the situation became clear is that we need to use our resources in the best way possible and that obviously means being part of a combined effort.” 

The Community Trust works with a wide variety of partners on a weekly basis so, as Gaskell explains, finding out where they could help most effectively happened very quickly:

“We made lots of phone calls to our partners in particular Wigan Council, who are leading the response locally. However, we also spoke to foodbanks and homeless charities to see what they were doing and how we can best help them. 

“As a result we are filling lots of gaps; things like picking up PPE from the council and delivering it to local care homes, or working with an armed forces charity to deliver food packages to vulnerable people.”    

The other area where the Community Trust work is proving invaluable is their understanding and unique connection to the community.

Tom Flower, Wigan Athletic’s Head of Community, says: “We are a club, like many others around the country, which is right in the heart of our community. We engaged directly with close to 15,000 people last year. The nature of our work means most of these fall into the category of vulnerable.  Each of the people had average contact time of 24 hours, so we have an understanding of their needs.”

The Club and the Community Trust have been busy calling their supporters and participants to check on their wellbeing.

Gaskell describes how their knowledge of their participants has helped them prioritise the most vulnerable: “One of the first calls we made was to a gentleman on one of our programmes who we recognised as the kind of guy that would not want to ask for help, but we know he has a responsibility for caring for his grandchildren and the phone call quickly identified that he was struggling to put food on the table. We were able to make an emergency referral on his behalf and within 24 hours he’d received a food delivery.”    

Latics have so far made 245 calls to the fans and participants. Gaskell explains how the calls help identify who might need help.

“We are calling them for a chat,” he adds. “The relationship we have with them allows this to be friendly and informal. However, we steer the conversation with a number questions and every caller has a sheet with the ‘tell-tale signs’ that might indicate someone might be having problems be that mental health, financial issues or being having no-one to get their shopping.  We log every call and flag up who needs a call back or referring to one of our partners for further help.” 

“Our players have also been involved in the effort, Samy Morsy, Chey Dunkley, Kieffer Moore and Joe Gelhardt have also been sending personal video messages wishing young supporters a happy birthday. The manager also sent a birthday message via twitter to a supporter celebrating their 21st birthday. He has also been phoning supporters and sharing the hand washing and staying at home messages.”

FIT FANS online campaign launches to get football fans active

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The EFL and EFL Trust have today launched an online FIT FANS campaign to provide a safe way for fans to get active in the safety of their homes.

In support of Sport England’s ‘Stay in Work Out’ campaign, the programme will ensure fans have a safe way to start and maintain exercise safely, during this current period.

According to new research released by Sport England, over 65% of people believe that exercise is helping them with their mental health, making an active lifestyle more important than ever for EFL fans and the nation.

Over the next 12 weeks we will feature sessions developed by two fitness coaches, Scott Copeland and Steph Thompson from the Club Community Organisation (CCO) network and will be released twice a week for fans to follow and get involved.

The sessions will introduce the concepts of safe warm up and cool down, increasing daily step counts and activity levels gradually, before moving onto sessions including aerobic strength and training. The exercises will vary and be fun to really give fans the chance to keep moving and see improvements in their fitness.

The sessions will be released each week on Wednesday at 5pm and Saturday at 11am on the EFL and EFL Trust YouTube channels, and will be available for fans to watch at their own leisure within the safety of their own homes.

Stay home, save lives and join the FIT FANS movement as we find new ways to keep moving in around our homes.

MFC Foundation aims to inspire confidence and hope in young people and adults who need support

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MFC Foundation are one of many EFL Club Community Organisations working tirelessly to ensure they maintain a positive impact in their local community despite the difficult situation we are currently facing.

Helena Bowman, Head of the Foundation based at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, says the need to engage with the community has never been greater. While using the power of the club badge and their resources to reach out brings everyone together.

“Never has it been so important that we are here to support our community. As a charity, working in the heart of the Teesside community, MFC Foundation aims to inspire confidence and hope in young people and adults who need our support.

“I’m extremely proud of our staff who not only have adapted their programmes to provide online resources and tools to support learning from home, but are also working directly in the community assisting those who need us most.

“With the elderly and most vulnerable isolated, there is a worry they will struggle to get hold of essential food items and there are many requiring help. MFC Foundation are doing all they can to ensure no-one in the community goes hungry during this pandemic.”

As well as donating £1,000 worth of food to a Middlesbrough food bank, the Foundation are also offering practical help, ensuring food is getting delivered. There are 40 elderly residents who rely on Redcar and Cleveland food bank who would usually visit once a week to collect their food. MFC Foundation have stepped in to deliver this to them. In addition, they are also working with the local council to help elderly residents with their shopping who can’t get an online delivery slot.

It is not just the elderly and vulnerable who are at risk of going hungry during these unprecedented times. Many families across the community are supported by free school meals during term time and with schools being closed, this could become problematic to parents, particularly those whose income is affected.

Just recently, the players of Middlesbrough Football Club clubbed together to buy 1,000 food parcels, ones distributed by club and Foundation staff, plus volunteers.

MFC Foundation are supporting families in East Cleveland by distributing free school meals to 75 households, 3 times per week. Staff have also raised the spirits of these local families by dressing up as superhero characters to make the deliveries.

Helena added: “From delivering free school meals across East Cleveland to supporting the NHS with deliveries and shopping for the vulnerable and elderly, we have re-focussed our efforts to support where we can, whilst following government guidelines of social distancing.”

With most schools closed, many youngsters are missing out on vital education and so MFC Foundation have developed a ‘Virtual Classroom’ that has a plethora of resources for young people and adults to take part in.

Meeting daily challenges head on, MFC Foundation are doing all they can to keep participants of their projects engaged. They are currently working with a quarter-finalist from MasterChef who is cooking and developing food parcels including Sunday lunches which are being delivered to participants of their ‘Team Talk’ and ‘Kitchen Therapy’ programmes.

Just recently, an online collaboration with the Head Chef of Middlesbrough Football Club, Howard Archer, brought recipe ideas to a new audience. This is a weekly engagement and one that has proved very popular.

Another initiative MFC Foundation are working hard to continue is their FITBORO programme, a project designed to help and support participants lose weight and lead healthier lifestyles. Staying fit and healthy now is as important as ever and so the program has been adapted so that exercise sessions have been delivered through Zoom and WhatsApp.

Every Player Counts is a disability programme aiming to get participants playing regular football. Whilst this is not currently possible, MFC Foundation have been working hard to get resources and activity plans out to their participants to keep them active and happy.

There is also a recognition that spirits in the community might be a bit low right now, so the Foundation are using their social media channels to release a Midday Message in the hope of lifting spirits in a variety of ways.  

“Every avenue is being explored, every resource used and we’re helping where we can and it is safe to do,” concluded Helena, Head of a Foundation who are meeting challenges and helping others adapt to the most testing, challenging of times most of us have ever known.

Cambridge United – Here for U’s

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As the reality of the impact on their community became clearer, under the banner of the Club’s ‘Here for U’s’ campaign, Cambridge United’s Community Trust have been working tirelessly to provide practical, emotional and physical support to their area.

Their response takes into consideration the variety of people and their needs in the local community and aims to provide exactly what their community needs to get them through this difficult time…

Sam Gomarsall, Community Trust Manager, explains:

“Here for U’s is all about providing the people who need it with practical, emotional and physical support. These are unprecedented times and the club wants to do everything it can to play its part in helping our community through this. Naturally, we’re having to adapt our approach to community work of course, but we’re as committed as ever to being there for our local community when they need us the most.”

Amongst the many strands of work under the Here For U’s project, Cambridge United Community Trust have teamed up with the Cambridge City Council’s Food Poverty Alliance, to ensure that vulnerable children in the area will continue to get the meals they need during the holiday period. This is not an unusual practice for the Community Trust, as many children and families attend the stadium in school holidays as they are supported with activities and meals. However, with the current situation preventing their ability to do so, an alternative solution had to be found.

Cambridge United’s club catering manager has volunteered to work with the Trust to ensure meals are prepared and the team then distribute them to the relevant homes. Throughout the period of lockdown, a total of over 1,717 two-course meals will have been provided in the local area. Alongside the meals, activity packs have been provided to support the learning of young people, for whom structure and having something to do in the day will be so important.

Alongside this brilliant approach to ensuring the continuation of a normal provision for the Trust, is the opening of a Community Careline. The Careline gives those over 70 and those self-isolating the chance to have a friendly chat, make the team aware that they need food or wellbeing support and also give the Trust the chance to signpost those most vulnerable to other support groups in conjunction with the local authorities such as Mutual Aid.

Another innovation has seen Cambridge United’s EFL Community Project of the Year (League Two) online to support school children with their mental health. Showing once again their ability to adapt, the Trust have developed and provided online resources for the project to schools in their area so they can be sent out to school children to complete their learning in this vital area of wellbeing.

The club and Trust have also been encouraging their fans and participants to share their favourite football memories and next to launch is an online version of their project ‘Active Science’ in conjunction with Astra Zeneca.

The Trust’s strong focus on online education opportunities is no coincidence. 

Sam explains: “There is a real risk that this period will widen the educational inequality gap in our communities and across the UK. We want our community to know that we are with them throughout this difficult time and will continue to build and adapt our approach to support them with their most important needs.”

“Our fans are there for us week after week, now it’s our turn to be there for them.”

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“It’s what we do, we are set up to serve our Community,” says Joe Goude, Stevenage FC Foundation’s Chief Executive. However, it’s a statement that makes light of how, in a matter of hours, the charity attached to Stevenage FC went from serving the community in its usual way, to being a key part of the response to the COVID 19. 

Goude says: “The social distancing, ‘stay at home’ rules, obviously meant that overnight our education programmes, school provision, health and wellbeing and inclusion programmes could no longer operate in their normal way. However, Phil Wallace the Club Chairman, was on the phone straight away, he recognised that our community would need us more than ever in the coming weeks and he tasked us with helping them through the difficult times ahead. ”

The Club and the Foundation moved quickly and by Monday they had four initiatives up and running:  Community Careline, a phone line for vulnerable members of the community; Community Kitchen, a food delivery service; an initiative to supporting local food banks and a community errand running service, such as collecting and delivering prescriptions. 

Goude explains how they could move so quickly: “We already had connections with the local foodbank so it was matter of getting in touch to see what we could do.

“As we are already working with many vulnerable members of society and have partnerships in place with many local organisations, providing a Community Care phone line seemed like the logical way for us to stay in touch and link people with the organisations that can help them.”

Even the food delivery service, which would seem to be a long way from a Community Foundation’s normal operation, was set up overnight.

Goude continues: “We already have a long running initiative called ‘Community Kitchen’ where we teach people with young families how to cook healthy meals. We immediately adapted this provision into a food delivery service. We now make 100 sandwiches each day and deliver them to vulnerable people in the community and have now delivered over 10,000 sandwiches.” 

The deliveries have proved a lifeline for many vulnerable people. Goude talks about one case in particular: “The chairman got an email for a lady in Reading, thanking us for what we are doing. Her elderly mother lives in Stevenage and she’s been unable to get a supermarket to deliver any provisions until April. She said the sandwiches that we deliver were ensuring she had food to eat and that we were ‘keeping her mum alive’.  Naturally, we made a delivery of basic provision to her mum the next day to ensure she had enough to get by.”   

If the overnight transformation of the Foundations activity was not impressive enough, things got even busier when the BBC covered Stevenage’s activity.

Goude says: “It made more people aware of the services and there was a step up in the levels of activity.

“Calls to the Community Careline increased and we started make more deliveries. We were also put in touch to Lister Hospital whose frontline staff were struggling to find to time eat properly.

“We now make a daily delivery of sandwiches to the hospital, so at least their hard-worked staff can get something to eat.”

The public have got behind Stevenage’s efforts and the Foundation started a fundraising page to ensure they could continue the hospital deliveries.

Goude adds: “The target was £6,000 and within a matter of days we had £7,500, so we can continue this in the foreseeable future.

“The deliveries to the vulnerable can also continue, for as long as they need to, because the players have stuck their hands in their pocket to fund these with the money that would have paid for their food at the training ground.” 

Despite being busier than ever, Goude reiterates it was only what the Foundation was set up to do, he adds: “There are a lot of people involved in this effort and a lot of partnerships in place. We’re not the experts, we’ll just fill the gaps where we can. We are working closely with the local authority. We want to be doing the right thing and not getting in the way.

“I say quite honestly to the local authority just let us know if there’s something you want us do and conversely if there’s something we are doing that others can do better.

“For example, the aim of the Community Careline is to refer people to where they can get the right help.

“We’re not a counselling service or looking to provide all the answers we are just there if people want to chat – some people are just more comfortable talking to a Football Club. However, if they need further help we know where to refer them.”   

Goude concludes: “Our Chairman said it best, our fans are there for us week after week, now it’s our turn to be there for them.”