Charity Fundraising
Each Miss Scotland competitor chooses a charity to fundraise for and Sophie fundraised for Carers Trust Scotland two years in a row. She has raised over £2,000 for the charity and has also raised its awareness across Scotland. She says, “I get massive gratification from working so closely with my chosen charity and partner charities.” Carers Trust Scotland provide support services for approximately 780,000 of Scotland’s unpaid carers. Sophie was appointed as their first charity ambassador, representing Scotland’s Young Unpaid Carers. She got involved with the charity after seeing first-hand the hard work and dedication unpaid carers put into looking after someone close to them who is unable to live independently. To fundraise she has hosted countless events, including charity evenings and pub quizzes, all in order to raise awareness of the role of unpaid carers and the need for support for them. Sophie also launched the #AyeCare campaign alongside the charity, which aims to raise online awareness about the sheer scale of the issue in Scotland. The campaign encourages all social media users who either are unpaid carers, or know someone who is, to post a status/picture using the hashtag. The campaign also looks to raise awareness around what an unpaid carer actually does – often people don’t realise they’re entitled to support because they don’t identify as being an unpaid carer and are therefore struggling in silence.
Sophie says that she is lucky in her job, as she gets to use the broadcasting platform to raise greater awareness about the work of Scotland’s unpaid carers.
