For the fifth year in a row, the group handed over Christmas presents for some of the most needy, yet resourceful, young people in the country at a special party night on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Disco lights flashed as the North Lanarkshire Young Carers event took place at Forgewood Community Centre in Motherwell, not far from the organisation’s headquarters.

As in previous years, Lanarkshire-based Procast, which has a strong community ethic, approached the organisation to ask the youngsters – some as young as eight – to each write down their Christmas wish and pledged that they would make it come true.

The aim is to ensure that these young people, who carry such heavy family responsibilities and who are living in challenging day-to-day circumstances, frequently in low-income settings affected by drugs and alcohol misuse, do not go without a deserved present on December 25.

The gifts – for 185 carers in total, which is double the number of previous years – were handed over directly to some of the young carers by Procast’s Kirstie Adams and Megan Ballantyne as young persons practitioner Jason Lyttle and his colleagues looked on.

Action for Children North Lanarkshire Young Carers (to give the group their full title) raise awareness and identify and provide direct support to kids who are forced to help look after someone in their family for a variety of reasons.

They are at full capacity and have a backlog of young people waiting to join the service and receive vital round-the-clock support.

North Lanarkshire Council is a “Key Customer” of Procast, and the company first identified the Action for Carers service as a cause in need of support in 2019.

At Christmas time that year, Procast made their first donations to the young carers and followed that up with a repeat performance in 2020.

Then, in 2021, the company kept the generosity going and last year (2022), Procast delivered more specially wrapped parcels to coincide with the festive period.

Group managing director Derek Innes said: “We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to enjoy a happy and positive childhood and access to help to guide them into their adulthood when they can fulfil their potential.

“These young carers may not have this opportunity at home due to the responsibilities they have of caring for their family members through illness, disability or misuse of drugs or alcohol.

“The service that Action for Children provides for these kids is second to none and potentially is the only respite they have.

“The children are able to connect with other kids in similar circumstances and have the chance to lean on the great staff for guidance, particularly the older kids, with CVs etc.

“We are, as always, honoured and humbled to make a small difference. Seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces when we deliver their presents makes what we do all year worthwhile.

A spokesperson for Action for Children North Lanarkshire Young Carers said: “A huge thank you to everyone at Procast for all of the very thoughtful and generous Christmas gifts for our young carers – you have made their Christmas wishes come true!

“Also, the gifts were beautifully presented, and we appreciate all the time that went into organising and wrapping them.”

The presents were paid for by fund-raising events organised by members of the Procast team over the course of the year.