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Be Free Young Carers announces the Charity’s First Patron
Be Free Young Carers (BFYC) an Oxfordshire charity providing vital support and services to young carers has proudly welcomed Darragh Ennis at its first charity patron.
Darragh Ennis is an entomologist, neuroscientist, professional quizzer, and television personality well known as ‘The Menace’ from ITV’s The Chase. Since 2021, Darragh has been involved with BFYC raising awareness of young carers in Oxfordshire and attending respite activities as one of the charity’s ambassadors.
Speaking about his new role with BFYC, Darragh said: “It's a real honour to become a patron of BFYC. Being able to support these wonderful young people is a really great opportunity for me to try and make a difference to people who need all the help they can get.
I think that a lot of smaller charities like BFYC do amazing work in local communities. This close-knit local support provided by these charities, makes a real day-to-day difference in people's lives. Added to this local element, those with caring responsibilities are among the most under-appreciated members of our society who look after the most vulnerable. When carers are young, these responsibilities weigh so heavily that I really wanted to help in any way that I can.
I think young carers deserve to have a childhood. Having caring responsibilities can steal away the time and freedom for young people to enjoy being young. I'd like to help with that as much as I can, so working with a local charity means I can have as much of an impact as possible.”
Sabiene North, BFYC Chief Executive Officer, added: “Our charity and young carers feel extremely lucky to have the pleasure of welcoming Darragh as our first charity patron. We have come so far in recent years and this moment is a real pivotal point in our charity’s history. We have seen first hand Darragh’s enthusiasm and passion for learning more about our young carers in Oxfordshire and the challenges they face.
It's an exciting year for BFYC too – we are currently in the process of strengthening and expanding to our services to support our young carers, including our Employability and Mentoring Programme set to launch later this year.
We continue to receive daily referrals from caring families seeking help, currently supporting 600 young carers in Oxfordshire. We are excited to have Darragh join us as our patron as we continue to expand and become a countywide charity. We can't thank him enough for his support."
If you know of any Young Carers based in Oxfordshire and would benefit from BFYC’s services, you can make a referral by visiting their website – www.befreeyc.org.uk