U CAN DO IT FOUNDATION CIC 2020/2021
Trustees' Annual Report: 01/05/2020 to 30/042021
Introduction
U Can Do It (UCDI) Foundation has been in existence since 2019 in the United Kingdom .
The core mission of U Can Do It (UCDI) Foundation is to directly support the families and caregivers to respond to issues of overburden, isolation, boredom, and lack of engagement of their children with learning difficulties. Also, to allow caregivers to take a break from caregiving and take care of their own health and other non-related responsibilities.
U Can Do It (UCDI) Foundation has been active with respite care services in Southwark and Milton Keynes. The general beneficiaries of the respite care sessions organized by U Can Do It (UCDI) Foundation have always been children with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities, and their caregivers.
The situation
Concerns brought to U Can Do It (UCDI) Foundation through networking were raised on restrictions on the children’s health seeking behaviors since the current pandemic in the UK. There was less attention given to illnesses other than that of COVID-19 patients. This contributed to the increased stress and hypertension of parents and caregivers who used to frequently visit the hospital to seek care for their children with disabilities. Moreover, the fear of contracting the virus at the various health centers also contributed to less attendance to/ no appointments for therapies that children of autism, learning difficulties and disabilities used to enjoy.
Disabled children are children with special needs. By closing schools, the one to one learning support they used to get from their teachers and participation in social activities such as our normal free respite care session in their communities were absent, therefore
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Covid -19 impacted negatively on our service users. Most disabled people need help when it is time for shopping but with the current pandemic of covid-19 their families were not willing to go shopping with them and were frightened that they were at high risk of catching the virus. Our service users and their families were more demanding than ever before, due to covid-19 crisis we had numerous phone calls from parents seeking for help. Large proportion of our service users and their families were from ethnic minorities with little or no support from friends and extended families who had caught covid-19 or were in isolation.
Project Preparation
Surveys were sent to 110 parents of our service users in our communities to enable us to know there struggles and needs. After collecting the parents’ feedback, we identified hundred (100) surveys, a large proportion of children in our local community some of whom are autistic and have learning difficulties. The parents of these children expressed interest and desire to see more community support in the neighborhood during covid-19 specifically tailored to support children with disabilities and their families to relief them from stress, Isolation and hardships. To ensure that a wide range of people participate and benefit from the project, there were no cost or fees.
Activities
The following activities took place during the project period;
1. Counselling sessions and emotional support
A counselling session and emotional support was given to our service users. These sessions took placed on the second week of every month. Each session lasted for three (3) hours. Parents and caregivers were taking through counselling sessions to relief them from depression, mental health and the fear the pandemic possess. This was done both in groups and online through zoom.
2. Free meals and PPE support
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Considering that these families have low incomes and less privileged; U Can Do It saw it necessary to provide food support to these families. Food was taken from the food bank and supplied to these families with the help of our abled volunteers. We also bought some of the foods to support what we had from the food bank which was not sufficient.
We also bought some PPE and toiletries to support our service users who were in need. These were done twice a week for six months and it really brought relief on the beneficiaries. Due to extra funds we were able to countine for exter few months.
3. Trips to the park
This was done in small groups following the government guidelines. We organized these trips once every first Saturday of the month. This was for children living with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities in our community. They played and had fun and at the end they enjoyed every moment spent.
4. Distribution of PPEs and summer clothes
Personal Protection equipment’s like face masks, sanitizers and soaps were provided under this project. We also bought and distributed summer clothes for most of our service users.
In all, it was a relief, fun, and exciting for the parents, caregivers and the children living with autism.
Evaluation
The project was a very successful one. Parents and caregivers who took part in the Counseling and emotional support confessed that it has really help them to overcome the depression and fears they were harboring and wished it continued for a longer period. The meals and medical distribution also help most of the service users who benefited from the project. It was evident on their faces with the smiles whiles our volunteer delivered the food and medicine to them.
The children also had fun during the trip to the park. The played and had fun with their colleagues whiles our volunteers look on with smiles all over their faces.
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The PPEs delivered to our service users help them with the fight and spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With all these successes the project achieved, we at U Can Do It foundation and our services users felt we could have done more by extending the project period but with the financial constraint of our foundation, we had to end it.
Recommendation
The respite care organized by U CAN DO IT FOUNDATION has had a fruitful impact on the children living with autism and their parents and caregivers who partook in it. The importance and usefulness of this project was demonstrated by the service users. It is recommended that these activities should take place every year for a longer period. It will go a long way to help the children and their caregivers. Again, more donors and well to do individuals should be encouraged to support this project in the future.
Donners /Funds
Big lottory £ 9,900.00
City of london £5,650.00
Changes
The board of trustees still remains the same and we hope to resume back to our normal respite care session.
The Board Miss Susan Rogers
U Can Do It Foundation
2 Stoner Court
Great Holm Milton Keynes MK8 9AP
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U CAN DO IT FOUNDATION CIC
FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE PERIO
Income:
Big Lottery (Covid-19 Response)
Expenditures:
PPE- Hand sanitizer, gloves Food Clothing and Toiletries Mobile Phones Transportation- for shopping and hospital Telephones Calls- Counselling sessions Overheads- including Insurance for Workers
Income:
City of London
Expenditures:
Food Clothing and Toiletries Mobile Phones Transportation- for shopping and hospital Telephones Calls- Counselling sessions Overheads- Workers
Income:
Public Contributions
Expenditure Website maintenance
Total:
OD 01/05/2020 to 30/04/2021
£ 9,900.00
£ 250.00 £ 3,900.00 £ 900.00 £ 200.00 £ 500.00 £ 150.00 £ 4,000.00
| £ | 5,650.00 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | 2,800.00 | ||
| £ | 500.00 | ||
| £ | 200.00 | ||
| £ | 500.00 | ||
| £ | 150.00 | ||
| £ | 1,500.00 | ||
| £ | 217.13 | £ | 217.13 |
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