Welcome back to Youth Forward!
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Get ready for Awareness Week!
Welcome back to Youth Forward, your quarterly newsletter from CLAPA!
What you'll find in this edition:
- Awareness Week 2021: Get Involved!
- Meet James
- Share Your Smile
We hope you enjoy this issue of Youth Forward! Make sure to follow our Children & Young People's Facebook page for more stories and the latest updates.
Awareness Week 2021: 8th - 16th May
Awareness Week is nearly here! Every year in May, the UK cleft community comes together to spread the word about cleft lip and palate with the aim of making the world a kinder place.
This year the theme is 'celebrating difference' which is all about celebrating what makes every single one of us unique. What would a world which really celebrated difference look like to you? Next week, make sure to keep an eye out on our social media pages for some special videos and posts, courtesy of our Children and Young People's Council!
Below are just a few of the ways you can get involved this year.
Step Up for CLAPA
Pledge your step count and take on this feel-good fundraising challenge for Awareness Week! When you sign up you'll receive a fundraising pack from us to help you spread the word online. When you finish, you'll get your CLAPA medal in the post!
Share Your Art
Do you have a creative way to tell your story so far? Could you produce a drawing, short story, painting or poem on the theme of 1 in 700?
Art is a powerful way to tell stories, and we'd love to share yours this Awareness Week!
Share Your Story
Every time you share your story, more people can understand what growing up with a cleft is all about. When more people understand, the world becomes a better, kinder place. Share your story this Awareness Week to spread the word about cleft!
![[Image ID: A pale blue background with large dark pink text reading 'Every story shared is a new audience educated'. Below in blue smaller text, 'Share your story this Awareness Week to spread the word about cleft and tell everyone what cleft and celebrating difference means to you.' To the right, is an icon of a pen on paper, and below are the Awareness Week, Celebrating Difference, and CLAPA logos.]](http://i5.createsend1.com/ei/r/86/939/2B8/020341/csfinal/Everystoryshared-990000000003cf3c.png)
Meet James
'My name is James, I am 10 and I have been part of the Children and Young People's Council for about 12 months. I joined the council during the pandemic so I haven't met everyone in person and some of them have left during this time.
I am really looking forward to the face to face meetings, as it is just not the same as it would be normally – also a bonus the pizza takeaway or hot dogs for lunch we get apparently!
The first thing I have liked being part of the Council is meeting new people and making friends, we are all from different parts of the country. I have found inspiration from other members of the council from their own interests, but hoping I will be able to inspire younger people in the CLAPA community.
At the moment we hold meetings online, talking about what we have done since the last time we met, and plan for future meetings. We will always do some exciting and fun things such as quizzes, puzzles and online games like skribblee.iio – online hangman which always gets a laugh.
In the recent social meeting I co-hosted for the first time ever which I was excited about, as well as hoping everything would go smoothly! In the meeting I helped organise playing a computer game called Among Us. Some people had never played it before but I felt that we all enjoyed it.'
Thank you, James! If you'd like to find out more about our Children and Young People's Council and what they do, head to our website.
Share Your Smile
As we look to gather more lovely photos and stories to share as part of our #ShareASmile social media series, we'd especially love to hear from young people - including you!
Could you help show other young people in the CLAPA Community that they aren't alone? Get in touch if you'd like to share your photo and story (we'll just need a parent/carer's permission to share your photo if you're under 18)!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this newsletter and made it possible!
If you would like to share your hobbies, creations, advice, art, tips or stories with other young people, we'd love to hear from you.
Contact youngpeople@clapa.com to get in touch!
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