Press release -

DRWF SEEKS VOLUNTEERS FOR THERAPEUTIC RECREATION CAMP THIS JUNE AFTER OVERWHELMING RESPONSE FOR PLACES

Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation (DRWF) is seeking volunteers to support a free therapeutic recreation camp in Wiltshire for children and young people living with Type1 diabetes: Friday 7th– Sunday 9thJune 2019 at Liddington PGL in Wiltshire.

Volunteers are needed to help deliver the first Diabetes Wellness Family Camp 7-9 June 2019 at Liddington PGL in Wiltshire. The project is being funded by Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF) in partnership with Over The Wall (OTW) specifically for families with children with Type1 diabetes aged from birth to 17 years.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Over The Wall, who have twenty years’ experience delivering transformational therapeutic recreational camp programmes for children and young people living with serious health conditions,” explained DRWF Chief Executive Sarah Tutton.

“We have been overwhelmed with applicants to attend the camp. Now we need additional volunteers to work alongside the full-time staff to help enrich the experience of all the participants and maximise respite for parents and siblings; it also allows friendships to develop between families, who often feel isolated, which we know from experience can last long after the event.”

Volunteers need to be a minimum of 18 years of age. They do not need clinical experience, and if they have worked with children before that’s great but not essential. The organisers value enthusiasm, a sense of fun and most importantly a genuine desire to help empower children with serious health challenges

Successful applicants will need to attend an orientation following confirmation of a satisfactory DBS or PVG police check, at least two adequate references, and an MMR vaccination.

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact DRWF for more details at their headquarters based at Langstone Technology Park by telephone during office hours (9am-5pm Monday to Friday) on 02392 637808 or by email to enquiries@drwf.org.uk.There is more information on the Over The Wall Website.

DRWF has added the camp as a new event to their existing award-winning diabetes wellness event programme. The charity received the Judges' Special Awardand was Highly Commended in the Empowering People with Diabetescategory, at the annual Quality in Care (QiC) awards in 2017.

“We have demonstrated the beneficial outcomes for people living with diabetes to attend one of our educational events and we are delighted to have developed this new partnership with Over The Wall to offer a new event for families with children living with Type1. It is clearly a very popular addition and we have had to close applications early after being overwhelmed by the interest generated,” added Sarah Tutton.

Over The Wall was officially founded in 1999 by UK businessman, Joe Woods. He wanted to recreate the inspirational camps being run in the US by his friend, and late Oscar-winning actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman who was helping seriously ill children escape from and reach beyond the boundaries of their illness.

Over The Wall Head of Partnerships and Evaluation Allan Jolly said: “This partnership with DRWF is very exciting because the diabetes charity’s aims match our own vision that all children and young people, living with the challenges of serious illness and disability, can access transformational therapeutic recreation camp programmes, free of charge.”

The charity’s free therapeutic recreation camps help to develop the confidence, self-esteem, coping strategies and relationships of their campers: “We strive to make each camp a memorable, fun and empowering experience. All in a physically and medically safe environment.” Added Allan.

There are around 29,000 children in the UK living with Type1 Diabetes. For these young people, quality of life can be adversely affected by isolation and their inability to participate in many of the everyday activities enjoyed by their friends and peers. This often results in a growing lack of self-esteem and confidence which can become a barrier to future growth and development.

Over The Wall’s residential programmes (rated outstanding by Ofsted), are designed to bring about transformational change, helping young people with long term conditions to tackle these issues.

By working together with DRWF, OTW is bringing this opportunity specifically to families with children with Type1 diabetes in the hope that these young campers return home with a new sense of their abilities and ambitions and feeling far less isolated.

Topics

  • Adult education

Categories

  • family
  • wellness
  • diet and exercise
  • insulin
  • health
  • diabetes
  • youngpeople
  • type1diabetes
  • therapeutic

The Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation (DRWF) is a registered charity, established in 1998 to raise public awareness to type 1 and type 2 diabetes, associated complications, treatment, avoidance and relief and to provide support to people living with diabetes. Whilst funding diabetes research we aim to ensure that people are ‘staying well until a cure is found...’

In the past 15 years the UK has seen the number of people diagnosed with diabetes almost double, and this continues to rise rapidly. More than one in 20 of the population now lives with diabetes and it is estimated that there will be 5 million people affected by 2025.

While DRWF is an independent, autonomous charity, working for the benefit of people within the United Kingdom, internationally, Diabetes Research & Wellness Foundation exists also as a non-profit organisation in the United States of America, in France under the name "Association pour la recherche sur le diabète", and also Sweden (DWNS) and in Finland. We share the same goals and don’t lose sight of the bigger picture, enabling us to take advantage of our international dimension for the benefit of the charity and our beneficiaries.

Charity registration no – 1070607

Contacts

Claire Levy

Press contact Public Relations PR and Community Fundraising