ABS Anniversary Fund Series – September: Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust
Congratulations to Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust (LCYCT) who are the September recipient of the ABS anniversary fund!
The ABS Foundation and our charity partner Community Foundation for Calderdale will be supporting 12 different charities who deliver vital services in Calderdale. Every month, between May 2019 and April 2020 the ABS 19/20 fund will make an award to one fantastic local charity.
Who is the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust?
Set up in memory of Huddersfield teenager Laura Crane in 1996, the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust supports young people with cancer through targeted cancer research and supports projects to help alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation.
The charity raises money to support 13-24-year olds fighting cancer by funding medical and social research specifically into cancers that affect that age group. They also provide support mechanisms to improve their quality of life and time spent on hospital wards and after treatment. Their support is offered to 43 hospitals throughout the UK that treat teenage cancer.
What will Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust do with the Donation?
The charity supports young cancer patients locally and regionally as well as further afield and for a number of years has funded a Christmas Gift Campaign to ensure every young cancer patient that will be spending Christmas in hospital will receive a special surprise gift from the charity that is age appropriate and demonstrates that other people are thinking of them.
They decided to apply for the grant to help towards the cost of this special campaign.
Every young cancer patient in hospital at Christmas (upwards of 450) in 43 hospitals throughout the UK receives a gift box containing luxury chocolates, an amazon gift voucher, games and other goodies; plus, selection boxes and an extra special personal gift.
They traditionally fund the Amazon gift vouchers themselves so the £950 will go towards the Amazon vouchers for the gift box and will not only go to young people from Kirklees & Calderdale but all young people fighting cancer in hospital on Christmas day across the UK.
Building A Future
Over the next 12 months Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust will begin to address the cancer patient’s mental health and wellbeing with initially increasing the provision of remote mental health support through technology with a view to increasing the face-to-face support if this is also a need.
If they were the selected for the £10,000, the trust would direct this grant towards their new mental wellbeing focus. The fund would make a big impact on the first stage of the project which would be to increase young cancer patients access to remote support through the provision of technology e.g. iPads.
Helen Mervill, fundraising manager of the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust comments: “Over the years we have become aware that mental wellbeing of young cancer patients is not being given the same level of attention as their physical needs. The support side of the charity and its aim of reducing loneliness and isolation has over the years contributed to this need but we know from hearing individual patients’ stories that much more needs to be done.”
Dave Lees, trustee of the ABS Foundation and director at ABS UK said of the recent donation, “Laura Crane are a fantastic, small charity run by a dedicated team who love to support youth cancer patients across the UK. It’s Christmas and we can sometimes forget about all the children, young adults and adults in hospital and this charity are doing their bit to make sure as many as possible share the joy during the holiday period.”
If you’re a charity in Calderdale and like what you see, check out our blog post introducing the fund and to find out how you can apply.
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