Rachel Ellis: Families InFocus

Families InFocus is President Francis’s chosen charity for his Presidential year and this was his last meeting as President. Rachel Ellis from Families InFocus joined us to give us an update and explain how the lockdown had affected them and their clients.

The lockdown has hit the families they help hard. As can well be imagined, children with learning difficulties have particular problems coping with the restrictions. Like many others, they are spending practically all the time just with their immediate families. They are not all able to cope with online learning.

The need for the charity’s services has therefore increased substantially. Whereas they would normally expect to help some 1,800 families annually, in April and May alone they dealt with 623, about half of whom had no previous contact with them.

At the same time the lockdown forced the closure of many of the charity’s normal activities for children and their families. For example, it is no longer possible to run the Saturday Activities Club.

Families InFocus has kept going. Staff have been proactive in contacting the families thought to be the most vulnerable. The Activities Club has been replaced by a magazine full of ideas. It is hoped that it will be possible to return to physical activities later in the year; some new ideas may be tried.

Unfortunately the lockdown has curtailed many fund-raising activities and resulted in the cancellation of other events which would normally produce an income. The charity therefore expects to face a shortfall for this year, offset to some extent by a grant from the National Lottery.

However, Rachel did express the thanks of Families InFocus to President Francis and the Club for the support given during this year. This had not only produced funds for the charity but also raised its public profile.

The members thanked President Francis for all he had done for the Club during his Presidential year and for the leadership he had provided during such a turbulent time.

Sadly, Stan Keller announced that he would be resigning to join another Club. Stan was our President in 2004-05 and is a Paul Harris Fellow. For many years he has been Chair of our Public Image Committee. We will miss him sorely.