Community Action Network (CAN) is thrilled to name inspirational local organisation MYTIME Young Carers as its Community Hero in the Spotlight for May.

The theme of this year’s National Children’s Day on 15^th May is ‘Be Kind’, focusing on enabling children to have a healthy and happy childhood. CAN wanted to celebrate and champion an organisation who works to this ethos through our Community Hero in the Spotlight initiative.

MYTIME state that a young carer is a child, just like any other.  The only difference is that young carers are responsible for the care of at least one member of their family, though they may be as young as 5 years old themselves.  These children work incredibly hard to take care of their loved ones, yet they represent a largely forgotten community and often face significant disadvantage as a result.

MYTIME’s mission is to level the playing field for young carers and young adult carers everywhere by providing them with the support, opportunities and friendship that every child needs and deserves.

MYTIME’s Fundraising Director, Penelope Day, says, “The theme of this year’s National Children’s Day is ‘Be Kind’, and it feels particularly apt for us at MYTIME. The young carers we work with model incredible kindness every day. The compassion that they show their families, and the sacrifices they make to support them are humbling. Young carers deserve kindness and support from their communities in return, and that’s what MYTIME’s here for.”

MYTIME run three main programmes to support these hard working and amazing young carers:

• Making Memories Programme – through fun and enriching activity days, online youth group sessions and residential retreats, MYTIME enables young carers to access much-needed breaks from their caring responsibilities, to try new things and to feel part of a community.
• Employability Programme – MYTIME runs 8-week courses in which career opportunities are explored, a professional CV is produced, interview skills are taught and professional mentoring is arranged. The aim is to support young adult carers into further education, training or work. 
• Level-Up Programme – through this programme MYTIME works with schools to ensure that young carers have access to the additional support they may need in education.

Emma Lee, Partnership Manager at CAN, said “MYTIME is a wonderful charity supporting some of the most hidden children in the county. We are so excited to be celebrating their work over the next month and raising awareness of how others can get involved.”

MYTIME are always looking for volunteers or individuals who would like to fundraise for the charity. At the moment, they are on the hunt for supporters who might like to take part in a 15 mile Jurassic Coast Trek in June. The Trek is being organised by JK House and will raise funds and awareness for MYTIME and one other local charity.

To find out how you could get involved with this or with MYTIME’s other fundraising events, please visit their website or contact them at [email protected]