We are excited to announce that the Government is funding our new project for unpaid carers. We will be hosting informal digital coffee breaks with our community of beneficiaries. There will be an opportunity to meet other carers facing different but similar circumstances. There will be a chance to support one another with advice and experience. We hope to have a laugh too. We all want and need that during lockdown #3.
Thanking the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)
The Local Connections Fund is a new £4 million fund to help charities and community groups working to reduce loneliness by building community connections across England. Through this programme and previous partnerships, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and The National Lottery Community Fund are working together to help prevent loneliness, strengthen our communities and improve people’s lives.
Bringing our community together
This project will bring our community of unpaid carers together for online coffee breaks. Between now and the 31st March 2021 when the funding must be spent, we will host weekly digital meet-ups. This is open to beneficiaries, members of our private online group called Family Umbrage, and friends of people in these groups who are unpaid carers. We seek to be inclusive and recognise there are many carers who will benefit from a weekly chat with like-minded people.
How to sign up
The simplest way to sign up is to join Family Umbrage. Follow this link and request to join. That’s easy to do. Once your membership has been approved, go to the Family Umbrage post about the digital chats and join the ‘room’ created. We’ll meet you there. Any questions, please contact Tracy on tracy@afterumbrage.org.uk.
What will we talk about?
Anything and everything is the short answer. But we will have topics for each chat. Beneficiaries have suggested we have a mix of light topics and informative ones about the role of caring. One idea is to play a game now that so many digital tools are available. We can learn how to do that together.
We might not be able to serve coffee quite like this, but we hope to serve up friendship, new connections topped up with some laughter and support.
Informal digital coffee breaks with our community of beneficiaries and friends
They will be an opportunity to meet other carers facing different but similar circumstances. We will have a host each week and are open to volunteers taking on the helm. That way, we might be able to sustain the project beyond the 31st March which is when the funding ends.
First date for your diary
There’s not time to lose. We are hosting the first coffee break this Thursday 18th February 2021 at 2pm in our Family Umbrage group. Head over there to join us. We look forward to meeting you.