Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Lottery funding secures future of carers’ project
A HUGE lottery cash windfall will be used to help some of the most vulnerable children in Perth and Kinross escape the half-life that results from their role as a carer.
The £340,000 award will be used by the Perth-based charity PKAVS to support hundreds of youngsters aged between five and 18 who effectively put their lives on hold for family members.
Most have had their lives blighted by the so-called “toxic trio” of substance and domestic abuse and mental health difficulties.
Many act as sole or main carer for adults, putting their lives on hold to working as many as 35 hours a week, often alongside efforts at securing an education.
For the past 15 years, PKAVS’ Young Carers’ Project has been their sole means of support, offering crisis intervention and aid and providing opportunities for respite.
It currently supports around 300 children across Perth and Kinross but fears as many as 1,800 may be in need of help.
PKAVS carers’ hub manager Raymond Jamieson hailed the funding — which will effectively secure the future of the vital project until April 2020 — as a godsend for the Young Carers’ project.
Mr Jamieson said: “In the voluntary sector it is incredibly rare to get funding that lasts for three years.
“Thanks to this lottery funding we know that this is in place and that safeguards a number of positions, provides money to deliver services and allows us to plan for the future.”