Help special needs mobile cafe start-up
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Lakers special needs club in Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, is planning to open the very first mobile cafe managed and staffed by people with intellectual disabilities in our area! Although coffee shops staffed by people with special needs are popular in other parts of the world, there isn't one in our area yet.
In addition to creating training and job opportunities for our members, we also hope to create an opportunity for the awesome local community to engage and interact with them and create awareness of disabilities.
And of course everything from our café will be served with the very best smiles in Bray!!!
The Enterprise Development group of members will be involved in planning, developing and managing the mobile cafe.
We have managed to raise funds for the coffee machine and hope to raise €20,000 to purchase the specially adapted vehicle and to cover the initial operating costs.
Lakers social and recreational club enables children and adults with an intellectual disability to develop and nurture their own personal skills and self-esteem in a supportive, inclusive and fun environment. Following a fire in October 2018, which destroyed our clubhouse and fleet of 4 buses, we have been converting an old school building into our new clubhouse, with the support of our members, families, volunteers and awesome local community.
At Lakers we support adults and children with intellectual disabilities. We provide members with the opportunity to grow, learn and enhance their personal skills and confidence through a range of sports and social activities including; football, basketball, cooking, art, skiing, computer literacy, dancing and much more. We run over 60 activities a week for our 400 members, our centre is open 6 days a week, and is supported by over 160 volunteers.
In addition to the sport, social and recreational activities that we provide, we have identified a real need to develop training and employment opportunities for our adult members. This led to an idea to open a mobile cafe staffed and managed by our members with the support of the club as well as our awesome local community.
Lakers Sports and Recreational Club was founded in 1989 by a group of parents in Bray who had children with an intellectual disability and who saw a real need to fill a social, sporting and developmental gap. There was nowhere for parents and children to socialise or gain support outside of service hours. Lakers started as a basketball club for children with intellectual disabilities, and then grew to 4 sporting activities associated with the Special Olympics. Parents and children loved it but it was obvious there were so many other families missing out as their children were not interested in just sport, and so Lakers grew. The families rallied the community together to fundraise for Lakers, applied for grants, and pushed Lakers into the spotlight creating a strong foundation for Lakers to become a much bigger club employing a small group of staff and instructors, supported by 160 volunteers.
From just 4 activities, 30 years later Lakers is proud to offer to offer over 60 activities per week for our members aged 5 to 70 years old, offering membership throughout Wicklow and South Dublin.
In addition to creating training and job opportunities for our members, we also hope to create an opportunity for the awesome local community to engage and interact with them and create awareness of disabilities.
And of course everything from our café will be served with the very best smiles in Bray!!!
The Enterprise Development group of members will be involved in planning, developing and managing the mobile cafe.
We have managed to raise funds for the coffee machine and hope to raise €20,000 to purchase the specially adapted vehicle and to cover the initial operating costs.
Lakers social and recreational club enables children and adults with an intellectual disability to develop and nurture their own personal skills and self-esteem in a supportive, inclusive and fun environment. Following a fire in October 2018, which destroyed our clubhouse and fleet of 4 buses, we have been converting an old school building into our new clubhouse, with the support of our members, families, volunteers and awesome local community.
At Lakers we support adults and children with intellectual disabilities. We provide members with the opportunity to grow, learn and enhance their personal skills and confidence through a range of sports and social activities including; football, basketball, cooking, art, skiing, computer literacy, dancing and much more. We run over 60 activities a week for our 400 members, our centre is open 6 days a week, and is supported by over 160 volunteers.
In addition to the sport, social and recreational activities that we provide, we have identified a real need to develop training and employment opportunities for our adult members. This led to an idea to open a mobile cafe staffed and managed by our members with the support of the club as well as our awesome local community.
Lakers Sports and Recreational Club was founded in 1989 by a group of parents in Bray who had children with an intellectual disability and who saw a real need to fill a social, sporting and developmental gap. There was nowhere for parents and children to socialise or gain support outside of service hours. Lakers started as a basketball club for children with intellectual disabilities, and then grew to 4 sporting activities associated with the Special Olympics. Parents and children loved it but it was obvious there were so many other families missing out as their children were not interested in just sport, and so Lakers grew. The families rallied the community together to fundraise for Lakers, applied for grants, and pushed Lakers into the spotlight creating a strong foundation for Lakers to become a much bigger club employing a small group of staff and instructors, supported by 160 volunteers.
From just 4 activities, 30 years later Lakers is proud to offer to offer over 60 activities per week for our members aged 5 to 70 years old, offering membership throughout Wicklow and South Dublin.
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Lakers Club
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