Cinnamon Incubator Winner One Year On: Someone Cares

One Year On: Someone Cares

A year ago Someone Cares won the 2023 Cinnamon Incubator Final. Founder Jenni Calcraft reflects on a busy year for the charity, which provides support to the families of children who are admitted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

How has winning the Cinnamon Incubator Competition changed your organisation?

Before winning the Incubator competition, Someone Cares was a very effective and worthwhile one-off project run by Freedom Church in Liverpool and offering support to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Winning the Incubator has led to the creation of the Someone Cares UK Hub, dedicated to supporting churches throughout the country in bringing hope into their own local hospitals.

How have you invested the prize money in the organisation?

The prize money has gone towards funding two part-time members of staff (Director Jenni Calcraft, and Emma Le Poidevin, Project Coordinator) to run the Someone Cares UK Hub. As well as securing dedicated time to invest in the growth and replication of the project, the prize money has funded the practicalities of setting up on a national level; paying for everything from website design and marketing to developing resources.

What has been your greatest achievement in the last 12 months?

In the last six months our first Someone Cares project has benefited 216 individuals and we have lifted 49 situations to God in prayer. Although supporting people will always be our greatest achievement, we are proud of running our first ‘Explore Someone Cares’ webinar for churches interested in running their own project, trademarking our logo and promoting Someone Cares at a number of conferences! We’ve even been interviewed for the JJohn ‘Facing the Canon’ show after JJohn heard of Someone Cares on UCB radio!

What have you gained from being part of the Cinnamon Incubator Programme?

I cannot speak highly enough of the Cinnamon team or the work that they do. The quality of the training, the mentorship, the care and encouragement, the values and Christian ethos and the peer relationships with the other Incubator projects have all been exceptional and the catalyst to growing Someone Cares. We feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of the programme.

What are your plans for the next 12 months?

Having spent the first twelve months preparing for replication, we are now on the brink of taking on our first new projects! We are looking forward to spending time with churches and hospital chaplains around the country as these projects are established. We will also be continuing behind the scenes – developing the support that we provide to projects, such as volunteer training and pastoral resources, and will be applying for our own charity status too.

Do you have a message for those who donated to support you last year?

Our Someone Cares team may be the ones doing the work but it is your donations that have made it possible. It is you that is responsible for bringing hope into many hospitals as Someone Cares grows – enabling churches to support chaplaincy services and to bring God’s love and even prayer into the difficult and painful circumstances of literally thousands of individuals over the coming years. I find it hard to articulate just how fundamental your donation is to achieving this or how grateful we are! ‘Thank you’ feels like too small a word!