SOUTHEND DANCE CENTRE

CHARITY DANCE MARATHON FOR A GOOD CAUSE -

Crossroads Young Carers. Castlepoint.

On Saturday 6^th March we will be holding a dance marathon at St James Church Hall, from 9am-9pm for all our adults and children to take part in.

Dancers can get sponsored to dance and a prize of a new pair of DSI dance shoes will be given to the dancer who can raise the most sponsorship money. Sponsor forms are available from your teacher now. Alternatively for those who are unable to raise sponsor money, an admission fee of £5 will be charge for dancers to come along and have a dance.

We will also be selling tickets for a Grand Raffle which will be drawn on the day of the marathon. We are kindly asking for prizes to be donated to the raffle to help generate higher tickets sales to raise as much money as we can for this good cause. Current Prizes can be seen further down this page. If you have anything you'd like to donate to the raffle, please let us know. Prizes can be anything from a bottle of wine, to a box of chocolates or even a cuddly toy!

'Crossroads Young Carers supports young people who care/help care for someone in their family with an illness. We help give them back a piece of their childhood.'

Who are Young Carers?

Children 18 and under.

Who care, or help care, for a relative who has a physical or learning disability, a long

term illness, mental illness or suffers from substance misuse.

The person they are caring for may be a parent, brother, sister or a close friend. They

may have help with their caring role from another family member, or they may be the

sole carer.

What do these young people do?

Some have to do everything at home.

They may:

Care for a single parent with little or no support

Have to help with personal care ie bathing and toileting.

Have to manage the finances of the home.

Have to care for young siblings.

Have to cook, wash, iron, clean, shop etc.

Have to look after themselves and sometimes brothers and sisters.

Have to give medication and organise medical appointments.

Why do they have to cope with so much?

Sometimes through fear of the family being split up.

Often because they see it as their duty.

Because there is no one else to undertake these tasks.

How does it affect them?

They get very tired.

Feel isolated from their peer group, as they have no time to socialise.

Feel unable to have friends home and are often bullied.

They are often unable to go out as a family.

Their education suffers by :-

Being late or absent

Being unable to concentrate and get homework completed

Rejection of school in order to cope with responsibilities

How does "Crossroads Kids" help?

By giving individual help and support.

By liaising with other agencies to provide additional support where appropriate.

By working with schools and other agencies to provide knowledge as to the needs of

the Young Carers.

By providing respite from their situation either by providing a support worker in the

home helping with cooking, ironing etc or by offering the opportunity to go out with a

group of young carers. They go bowling, to the cinema, play laser games, etc.

By trying to give them back their childhood.

By providing a weekly drop-in facility at the Carers Centre, where they can relax and

socialise, play pool, watch videos and use the computers.

By providing weekly homework sessions where they can do their work in a quiet and

relaxed atmosphere.

PLEASE HELP US TO SUPPORT THIS GOOD CAUSE!