A CARER from Hawick is thrilled to have landed a prestigious ambassador role as part of a UK-wide charity campaign to highlight issues surrounding the 12,000 carers who live in the Borders.
Burnfoot community councillor Michael Grieve will represent Carers Trust – which formed last year when The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care came together – and is among the first such community representatives to be appointed by the charity.
The role was developed to focus on Carers Trust’s 2013 charity of the year partnership with The Co-operative which will raise an estimated £5million to enable the charity to tackle feelings of isolation and provide desperately-needed breaks, information, advice and support for young adult carers.
Mr Grieve cares for his wife Claire who suffers from chronic pain.
The 44-year-old said: “I am thrilled and honoured to be given the opportunity to be so involved in the charity’s partnership with The Co-operative which will deliver a change in people’s awareness of our cause and raise the money needed to transform so many young people’s lives.”
Mr Grieve is a trustee of the Borders Carer Centre, a non-MSP representative of the cross-party group on carers at the Scottish Parliament and a member of the Scottish Committee of Carers.
Also on his CV is a place on the Public Partnership Forum of NHS Borders, the P3 Committee of the Royal College of GPs and a public partner of Health Improvement Scotland.
Mr Grieve and his wife have three children, who all have needed to be young carers.
Laura Vickery, community projects manager at The Co-operative, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Carers Trust during 2013.
“By working together we can make life-changing differences to the lives of thousands of 14 to 25-year-olds in our communities who undertake unpaid practical and emotional caring responsibilities for a family member or friend who cannot cope without their support.”
There are around 12,000 carers in the Borders, with a quarter of them being young people aged between 14 and 25.
Across the whole of the UK, there are estimated to be seven million carers in the UK, of which almost half a million are young people.
The vast majority are caring for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems and cannot cope without their support.
A Carers Trust spokesman said: “Our partnership with The Co-operative will put money raised towards completely transforming many of these young people’s lives – not just for today, or tomorrow, but forever.”
For more information visit www.co-operative.coop/charityoftheyear