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Chief Executive Challenges Lancashire Evening Post

30th November 2009

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On Tuesday 24 November 2009 the Lancashire Evening Post carried an article on Caritas Care which was grotesquely misleading, inaccurate and an example of lazy, sensation-creating journalism. Some people who rely on our services were unsettled by the coverage. I must assure them that Caritas Care, approaching the end of its first year under its new name, continues to extend its scale and range of services and is this year out-performing expectations in particular in its Children’s Services. Jim Cullen, our Chief Executive wrote to the LEP’s editor, Simon Reynolds, a letter which was published in full; hopefully it has allayed any remaining fears:

Simon

On Tuesday you carried an article about Caritas Care, formerly named Catholic Caring Services, celebrating its 75th anniversary with an event for 160 staff, trustees and volunteers at the St Walburge’s Centre in Preston, and the launch of a £75,000 fundraising campaign.

I was surprised and upset to see that the article referred to the charity as ‘struggling’ and ‘fighting to stay afloat’ as I can assure you that isn’t the case, as our audited accounts clearly show. Nor is the launch of our fundraising campaign a ‘bid to stay open’. I won’t deny that times are tough throughout the charity sector but our financial status remains strong at Caritas Care.

We launched the £75,000 fundraising campaign to celebrate all that we have achieved in the last 75 years and bring in additional revenue to help us to maintain and extend our services in the future.

Thousands of people across the region have and continue to rely upon and benefitted from our services, including young people in adoptive and foster care, people with learning disabilities, older people with sensory impairments, families and communities.

I would like to reassure all our service users, as well as our partners in local authorities and other organisations, and our dedicated team of staff and volunteers, that Caritas Care is now as strong, if not stronger, than ever before, and we’re all looking forward to another successful 75 years together.

Yours sincerely

J P Cullen
Chief Executive