Leeds Weekend Care Association goes digital to help 140 families

Leeds Weekend Care Association (LWCA), which normally runs get-togethers and social trips for those with additional needs, is using online tools to reach out to around 140 families across the city.

The Gledhow based charity has also been doing essential shopping for isolated families.

Jenny Sellers, LWCA’s community fundraising and engagement manager, said: “Our first response was to call round all the families. Staff have been helping out making calls and checking-in on families. Some families have needed help with food shopping as well, so some of the staff have been helping out with that. That is particularly important where it is a single parent household and they can’t leave the house.”

Parents usually depend on the LWCA, which is also known as ‘Weekenders’, for giving them chance to recharge their batteries while it looks after their children.

But these sessions had to cease on March 21 because of the impending lockdown and some children being in high-risk health groups.

LWCA manager Liz Sunderland said: “A lot of our children, because of their cognitive impairment, won’t understand those general safety rules about washing your hands and keeping away from each other. They won’t follow those instructions because they are not on their template of the way they live.

“Their whole routine has changed as well, so lots of autistic children will live by routine. So their school routine is already disrupted, and the things they possibly used to do as well, like going home to dad every Saturday or going to the pictures. Certain things they used to do in a pattern, no longer exist.

“What that means is being confined to the house with a child who has limited understanding of why those restrictions are in place. Their world has been turned upside down.”

So the Weekenders has decided to help them with a bit of structure, albeit digitally. Over Easter they held craft activities, and more recently families and volunteers have been taking part in virtual challenges like ‘pass it on’ and the marathon-style ‘2.6’ test to help fund the charity at this difficult time.

Engagement manager Jenny said: “On Facebook, our website and Twitter we shared a different craft children could do each day during Easter week. It was stuff like handprint bunnies and chicks, making a bunny out of loo roll paper, sharing pictures of your Easter treats. I think it went down really well. A lot of our families got involved and we got some really nice pictures from it.”

But the question of funding is a difficult one for many charities. LWCA is part-funded through Leeds City Council, but it also depends on money from session fees and from fundraising events. And obviously they can’t run activities or events at present.

Manager Liz Sunderland said they were acutely aware families may be in a different set of financial circumstances when we emerge from the pandemic. She said they may need to look at waiving session fees or operating on a pay as you are able basis. She said it could have a big impact and “we could be down quite a lot of money”, which they need to run their essential service.

If you would like to financially support the LWCA, please go to bit.ly/DonateToWeekenders.

FACT FILE:

In normal times Leeds Weekend Care Association (LWCA) provides weekend and evening social clubs for children and young people with disabilities and additional needs.

Its respite support is delivered through three projects: Weekenders Club, Teen Scene and the Out and About Project.

But it had to pull down the shutters on its face-to-face activities in late March as lockdown came into force.

Its last outing was a ‘lads night out’ to the Northern Snooker Centre on March 17.

The lifeline service, which is now over 20-years-old, began as a pilot scheme called the Weekenders Club in 1998, which was funded and managed by Scope and the National Lottery.

The idea for the club came out of a survey of parents’ opinions conducted in the late 1990s about what their greatest needs and challenges were.

They said weekends were difficult to manage when taking care of a child with disabilities because of domestic chores. They also said siblings missed out on activities and trips due to the level of care the parents needed to provide.

After its pilot year, ‘Weekenders’ became independent of Scope. It is now an independent charity and company, managed by voluntary trustees.

At present, it is supporting around 140 families across Leeds via online platforms and by doing errands for isolated families.

Source: www.lwca.co.uk.