Who we support
We are proud to support inspirational national and local organisations who make a positive difference to people’s lives.
New care enquiries: 01305443115
The Care Workers’ Charity
The Care Workers Charity was founded in 2009 with the objective of supporting current and former care workers with one-off hardship grants. In 2019 the charity expects to award £250,000 in grants to care workers.
There are nearly 1.5 million care workers in the UK, contributing to one of largest workforces, and caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Early starts, long hours and mentally draining work are part and parcel of the job. A hardship grant can help cover financial loss caused by sudden illness or injury, a death in the family or a relationship breakdown.
Agincare has pledged to raise £6,500 in 2019 for The Care Workers Charity through a variety of fundraising efforts, from cake sales to sponsored walks.
John’s Campaign
John’s Campaign was founded in November 2014 by Nicci Gerrard and Julia Jones to highlight the negative impact of disconnection on people with dementia.
Nicci’s father Dr John Gerrard, who had dementia, went into hospital in February 2014, but restrictive visiting hours meant that Nicci and her family couldn’t be with John whenever they wanted.
John spent five weeks in hospital, with very little connection to his life at home, and when he returned home he needed 24-hour care. Dr John Gerrard died in November 2014.
Nicci and her friend Julia Jones (whose mother June also had dementia) vowed to challenge hospitals to recognise the crucial role played by family carers in the life and identity of someone with dementia, and to welcome them in whenever they wanted to spend time with their loved-one.
Agincare was the first independent care group to sign up to John’s Campaign. The campaign reflects the high value we place on working in partnership with family carers.
We strongly encourage family carers to maintain their involvement in our residents’ lives as an integral part of ongoing care and support. Many relatives and friends carers truly become part of our homes, and part of the family and are valued members of our communities.
At Agincare, we employ a number of young carers and passionately believe in supporting the development of their careers.
So we were delighted to sponsor this year’s ‘Young Carer’ category at the Rock Star Awards. These awards celebrate the achievements of young people aged 16–26 across Dorset and Hampshire. They showcase young people that have demonstrated strength, initiative and hard work, sometimes in the face of adversity.
The awards ceremony took place on 28 March 2019 at The O2 Academy in Bournemouth.
Abby King was announced as the Young Carer Star Winner. While in sixth form Abby’s mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. Abby’s life changed overnight and she had to learn how to cope with caring for her mother, an incredibly challenging financial situation, all while trying to keep up with her studies.
“I feel my story may inspire others as after finding it hard to cope and actually using it as an excuse to change my mind set and to explore the careers out there by using the skills I learnt from the challenges I’ve faced to help others. My story will never fully end as my mother will never fully recover, although we will continue to develop as a family, and I will continue to support the people around me who are in need.”
Leon Clarke was a Young Carer Star Finalist. Leon has been a young carer practically all his life. He looks after my mum who is disabled. When Leon went to my secondary school, he found it hard and was always getting into trouble. Leon moved to a behaviour school and got into boxing.
“If I inspire one person to change their life, after they learn my story then I will be happy. Because at the end of the day I want to inspire people and want to work teaching others to box.”
Read more about Abby and Leon’s inspiring stories.
Chandy Green was the Community Star Winner. Since leaving university in November 2017 with a degree in Social Work Chandy has been delivering talks at various schools, universities and organisations about his lived experience of disability and mental health problems growing up.
We invited Chandy to come to our head office on Portland. He ran an inspirational and emotional workshop with some of our team, talking to us about lived experience, reminding us of the person and their journey in health and social care.