Our Sutton Young Carers' Project appeal ends 2001 on the highest of notes with a fantastic £3,500 cash injection from the Gannett Foundation the charity set up by the Guardian's parent company.

The Christmas present came as a pleasant surprise to young carers' workers Gillian Marchant and Lucy Dean, both of whom were expecting a far smaller sum when they learnt the project had won the award.

The judges had been impressed by the bid, which sought money for a new scheme COCO (Caring for others, caring for ourselves) which the project will launch this year.

According to Gillian: "We have been wanting to do some group sessions, working on confidence building and self-esteem, and with this money we will be able to do it.

"What we want to do with this is care for ourselves."

On a number of instances over the past four months we have come across the major downsides of caring for a loved one when you are in need of being cared for yourself.

Bullying, low self-esteem and bottling up negative feelings are all too often part and parcel of the young carer experience, and it is these issues that Gillian and Lucy will be trying to address.

Among Lucy's ideas, following the roaring success of the project's Christmas show, is to use drama to help the young carers open up about their feelings.

The foundation has dolled out just shy of £200,000 this Christmas to charities in communities served by Newsquest Media Group, the company which owns the Guardian and is owned by US publishers Gannett.

The foundation, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, donated £6 million to charity worldwide in 2000.

A spokesman said: "We value projects which take a creative approach to such fundamental issues as education, neighbourhood improvement, economic development, youth development, community problem-solving, assistance to disadvantaged people, environmental conservation and cultural enrichment."

This money takes our total over the £15,500 mark, but we are determined not to stop here. Next week, we will find out how staff at the Guardian put their Christmas spirit to good use to raise some more cash for this most deserving of causes.

December 31, 2001 11:00