Blake’s remarkable input to social change started when he visited Parliament on 4th March 2019. Alongside other registered Young Carers, Blake contributed in encouraging MPs to sign pledges regarding keeping Young Carers as an identified group within the Ofsted Inspection Report. Since this report we believe Young Carers are still removed from the current framework. This sparked further ambition in Blake to support young carers to which Blake started his campaign called ‘Chocs for Champs’. Blake’s goal was, and still is, to provide a form of chocolate to young carers across Suffolk in a token of letting them know they’re not alone. Since Blake’s initiative Blake has featured on BBC Radio 1 and local newspapers in the bid to raise the young carer profile even further. In 2019 Blake donated an incredible 639 Easter Eggs and 853 selection boxes which has been distributed across the county to hundreds of young carers. In 2020 Blake collected just under 300 Easter Eggs before COVID-19 and has raised around £800 for young carers so far.
Message from Mrs L. Gilson Young Carers Lead at Ormiston Sudbury Academy:
Blake is an Ormiston Sudbury Academy Student and Young Carer who is passionate about raising awareness of the challenges faced by other young carers and actively helps them through a campaign he created called ‘chocs for champs.’ The ‘chocs for champs’ campaign asks the local community to donate Easter Eggs and Christmas selection boxes which Blake and Suffolk Family Carers then distribute to young carers across the region. Blake has played an active role in supporting his peers since joining the Academy and we have been overwhelmed with the response he has received from his campaign. He is a real credit to our Academy and we hope his campaign teaches other young carers in the Academy and beyond to be proud of what they do and to embrace support available around them.
Message from Sheree Blake’s Young Carers Adviser:
I commend Blake’s resilience to the changes he has had to face during COVID-19, as he, like most young carers, has found it hard by not having the respite from his caring role for his mother who suffers with progressive MS. Blake has been saddened but motivated by the restrictions of his campaign for 2020. Blake has high hopes to continue to make Christmas special for young carers with his campaign. His dedication to the support of young carers has been greatly appreciative and he has played a memorable part in making sure young carers feel important and recognised. We plan to continue supporting Blake and his Chocs for Champs campaign for the foreseeable future, in the aim to distribute further Easter eggs across the nation. From all of us at Suffolk Family Carers, well done Blake.
