Hello again everyone,
It has been a little while since we last blogged! But we are back with a very special blog to celebrate the end of our time working with the brilliant ‘Forge Women’s Institute’. The Forge WI have been absolutely amazing supporters during the past year and we couldn’t think of a better way to thank them than by shining the spotlight on everything they have done for SYC!
In April 2023, our time as The Forge WI’s charity of the year officially began. They had contacted us before this to let us know that they had voted on supporting SYC as their Charity of the year, so when April came round, we were super excited to see how we could work with The Forge WI. We had a brilliant meeting with Shelagh and Nik from The Forge WI not long after our time had started and we could already tell the year was going to be a success!
It’s probably easier to ask what the Forge WI didn’t do in terms of ways supporting us! From baking a delicious batch of cakes for our Carers Week event to their various stalls at different events during the year; knitting hats and other accessories to visiting our joint exhibition with Pete McKee at Weston Park Museum; The Forge have done it all and more for SYC in this past 12 months!
One event that really sticks in the mind is the Laycock’s festival in July 2023. Our Fundraising Officer Nick attended the event and was purely blown away by The Forge WI’s commitment, desire and enjoyment in raising money for us. There were cakes, jams, sweets and hand-made goods on sale, as well as a raffle with brilliant prizes and a genius lucky dip game that involved A LOT of bell-ringing; all of this showed just how much everyone at The Forge WI wanted to raise as much money as possible for the work we do.
The Forge WI were also crucial in making our match-funded Big Give Christmas Challenge campaign possible. Without The Forge WI putting forward a pledge of £1,000 (made up of the money they’d already raised so far), SYC may never have been able to take part in the campaign, which went on to generate a total of £6,920.92 for our counselling budget. Not only did this mean that their £1,000 had double the impact, but it also helped to make the whole campaign successful - something that we are extremely grateful to The Forge WI for!
The ladies at The Forge Women’s Institute standing proudly at their sensational stall during the Laycocks Festival in July 2023.
Shelagh and Nik from The Forge WI said the following about the last 12 months:
“The ladies of The Forge WI voted on three local charities last year and Sheffield Young Carers came out top. We were very pleased to get involved early on to visit your offices and speak directly with Sarah and Nick. One of the most positive experiences has been the great rapport we've had with SYC throughout the year both face to face and via social media”.
“The events we planned for the Summer and Christmas markets took a fair amount of organisation, but were also great fun for us to do! We raised a lot of money during a very successful year and our members have been extremely supportive of SYC”.
“We were able to pledge £1000 in December for the Big Give which meant our funds went further, this was such a rewarding experience! We invited one of the fundraising team from SYC to our April meeting where we were able to present the final balance for the year”.
As you can tell, The Forge WI have been superb supporters who have had such a massive impact. Everybody at SYC, as well as the young people and families that will benefit from The Forge WI’s hard-work, are truly grateful to have received their support over the last year. The final total that The Forge WI raised for SYC is a whopping £2,008.07!! We want to thank every member of The Forge WI again for all their fantastic fundraising, commitment to supporting young carers/families we work with and for going above and beyond to help make our time as their Charity of the year so special – you’re all absolutely incredible!
If you’d like to write a blog for our website, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re a young carer now, you used to be a young carer yourself, you are supported by a young carer or you want to discuss important topics around young carers, all young carer blogs will be considered. Please get in touch with our Fundraising Officer Nick by email if you’d like to get involved - Nick.Hardwick@sheffieldyoungcarers.uk