A youth group from Dewsbury has raised £2,000 for a diabetes charity from their eighth annual family fun day event.
Kumon Y’all, a charity that works with young people and encourages them to become more involved in their local communities, are supporting Diabetes UK because of the impact the condition has in the local area.
The event returned this year after last year’s festivities were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The annual fun day was back, bigger than ever with thousands of people attending.
The event featured a football tournament, a bouncy castle and slides, over 50 stalls, and a dedicated 40-person volunteer team serving food from a BBQ, serving a whopping 2,000 meals on the day.
Mr Farook Yunus project manager of Kumon Y’all said: “Every year we hold a family fun day and the young people decide what charity they’d like to raise funds for. Our young people chose Diabetes UK because of the high number of people in the local community, including family and friends, who are impacted by the condition.”
The charity was officially set up as a registered charity in 2014, although the group was created back in 2008, by Mustak Yunus, trustee Dr Shabir Musa, a consultant psychiatrist at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and trustee Sokat Ali Patel.
Kumon Y’all was set up to advance and help young people in Kirklees primarily ages between 8 and 21 through the provision of recreational and leisure activities. The charity also provides sports and fitness to develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable young people to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.
The family fun day was held at Savile Town Sports Field in Dewsbury, Kirklees. The planning including site pitches, risk assessments, police and council liaison is done by the young people with the help of the volunteers, to provide a sense of responsibility and transferrable skills for later on in life.
Mr Farook Yunus added: “We’re incredibly proud of all the hard work our young people have put into organising this event. They are incredibly passionate about issues that affect our local community and we’re already planning further work to raise awareness of diabetes and support people affected by the condition across Kirklees.”
Every year the young people get to choose which charity they want to support. In previous years the group have chosen charities such as MacMillan and the RNLI to receive the much-needed funds. This year, the young people chose Diabetes UK after noticing the prevalence of the condition within the South Asian community.
Diabetes UK is going to work with the young people from Kumon Y’all to help create and deliver workshops about diabetes prevention, awareness, and how to live with the condition.
Research from the South Asian Health Foundation has found out that South Asian people who live in the UK are up to six times more likely to have diabetes than the white population. The foundation found that diabetes prevalence in England is predicted to increase by 47% by 2025.
Current estimations say that 400,000 people of South Asian heritage live with the condition in Britain, which makes up one-fifth of the total diabetic population. In addition, South Asians tend to have poorer diabetes management, putting them at higher risk of serious health complications.
South Asians without diabetes are also 3 times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease but combined with type 2 diabetes, this risk rises even further, particularly for adults with type 2 diabetes aged 20 to 60.
It is not entirely known why this is the case, but many experts believe diet, lifestyle and different ways of storing fat in the body all play a major part in upping the risk for South Asian people.
Clare Howarth, Head of the North of England at Diabetes UK said: “We want to thank everyone at Kumon Y’all for their amazing effort. We’ve been bowled over by how much hard work and time the young people have taken to organise this event and raise funds for Diabetes UK.
“Diabetes UK are here to support everyone affected by diabetes. Yet without the help of generous supporters like Kumon Y’all, we simply would not be able to offer help to the thousands of people with diabetes contacting our helpline, to campaign to keep people with diabetes safe in the workplace, or to invest in vital research – taking us a step closer to our vision of a world where diabetes can do no harm.”
The next Kumon Y’all family fun day has already been announced for 23 July 2022.
