Together we achieve - Rebekah's story
Social worker and activist, Rebekah Pierre works with the Together Trust on the national, ‘Keep Caring to 18’ campaign and plans to donate half the proceeds from her forthcoming anthology, ‘Free Loaves on Fridays’ to the charity.
Rebekah, who herself lived in unregulated placements during her late teens, is supporting the campaign call for the government to ensure young people, up to age 18, receive care where they live.
Heres what she had to say:
The ‘Keep Caring to 18’ campaign takes me straight back to my own experience. I was doing my A levels living in an unregulated placement. Extracts from my diary at the time were used as campaign evidence.
I first became involved with the Together Trust on social media - they were very vocal - and, later, I was part of a delegation with the charity which presented a petition to 10 Downing Street.
The Trust has been a tireless ally in ‘Keep Caring to 18’. The Trust combines an in-depth knowledge of policy and the law with a creative, caring approach which meaningfully engages the voices of those with lived experience.
I want to support their work by donating half the money raised from my forthcoming anthology, ‘Free Loaves on Fridays’. This book, for which I am currently crowd funding, will be a collection, edited by me, of 15 essays and other pieces by careexperienced people. It will shine a spotlight on issues faced by older teenagers. The name comes from when I lived in a hostel and was given free bread on Fridays.
I would encourage people to engage with organisations, like the Together Trust, that can bridge the gap from people on the ground who get what is happening to people in parliament who don’t.