Beacon South Yorkshire: Surprise £5,000 gift package for Barnsley charity providing support for unpaid carers

Beacon South Yorkshire has been recognised for their wide range of support, including therapeutic massages, yoga, counselling, therapy, group training, morning coffee socials and one-to-ones, which is free-to-all and offers respite for carers from their daily challenges. They have been operating since 2000 and offer support to anyone in the region caring for someone with substance misuse, a disability, mental health challenges, dementia or who is elderly.

The crucial impact of their work is backed up by Linda Green, from Barnsley, who said: “I wouldn't be here. End of. I think I would've committed suicide long ago. I wasn't coping at all. I had all my tablets in a pile and I was going to take them all. Then I came to Beacon, and now, all my tablets are in their boxes where they should be."

12,000 people across the UK enter the world of unpaid caring every day, a recent study by the University of Sheffield has shown, which equates to around 4.3million people per year.

Recently, the number of carers accessing Beacon’s support has grown sharply, prompting the charity to begin recruiting more volunteers. Much to the surprise of the team behind the charity, merchandise company GoPromotional donated a care package of items worth £5,000 to help them on their recruitment drive and to keep them warm during the winter.

The package included flasks, blanket, thermal jackets and more, all of which were provided in Beacon’s colours and with their branding. GoPromotional’s director of operations, Jessica Bane Thompson, said: “At the heart of our company culture is contribution. Every year, we do what we can to support those hidden local organisations that are doing life-changing work.”

Peter Deakin, another carer from Barnsley who has had support from Beacon, said: “It saved my life. I'm not sure I'd be here if it wasn't for Beacon. What I had to deal with was a lot of hard work and not something I was doing very well at, so to find Beacon and spend so much time with people who completely and totally understand made all the difference."