Welcome to the website of The Cara Trust
We are the UK's leading charity focusing on the spiritual and pastoral support needs of people living with or affected by HIV. 2008 marks our 20th year of providing essential social welfare and spiritual support services for people living with HIV across London and beyond.
We were founded by Fr. David Randall in 1988 as a community of friendship of people living with HIV. The word Cara is derived from the Gaelic word for friend. We believe that our focus on community and friendship still holds true today. These are key aspects that continue to make Cara unique as an HIV charity.
During 2008 - 2009 we increased the number of people supported by Cara by 44% to 316. Thanks to all our supporters for helping make this possible.
What's New?
September 2009
We're very pleased that Elton John AIDS Foundation are supporting our pioneering work with older people living with HIV. Over the next year we will be researching the social care needs of older and/or disabled people, with a report to be published in 2010. Plus over the next 3 years we will be developing and expanding our Senior Service activity group for over 55s, as well as working to increase the input of older people, a growing section of the HIV community, into national research and policy focused work.
July 2009 - Every year we survey our service user to ask them about their needs and their opinions on the services we provide. This helps ensure that our services remain both relevant and good quality. We're pleased to report that the results have been fantastic, and a confirmation that our approach remains well suited to meeting needs. This year's response rate was 36%; even better than last year's 34%:
89% rated us as an efficient charity,
90% felt that Cara helps them feel less isolated,
100% stated that our Senior Service older people's group had improved their sense of well-being
100% were happy with our women's group
91% were happy with our Spiritual & Pastoral care, whilst 46% had concerns about their local Church's attitude to HIV
The full results can be viewed or printed by clicking on the News link above and then clicking on the Download page.
| 
