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Ballybeggan Golf Society Lady Captain Mary McElligott and treasure Catherine Mitchell, make a presentation of cheque to Sinead Joy accepting on behalf of Inspired. Also included is, standing; Breda O’Sullivan, Stephen Buckley, Labhaoise O’Connor, Jennifer O’Sullivan and David Malone. Photo by Dermot Crean
THE local Inspired group has announced an extension of its services thanks to funding from the government.
The news comes as another donation was made to Inspired at its Friary Lane headquarters on Monday morning.
The Ballybeggan Ladies Golf Society holds an annual lady captain’s day where the ladies traditionally brought gifts for the lady captain. However, it was decided in the past couple of years that each of the ladies make a charity donation of €10 instead and this year the beneficiary is Inspired.
Lady Captain Mary McElligott and treasurer Catherine Mitchell, were on hand to present the cheque for €230.
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Volunteer Maree O’Connor from Inspired said all donations and fundraisers are welcome because, despite being successful in their application for Pobal funding under the ‘Ability’ programme, they are restricted in what they can use it for and they still have to pay for the rent, lighting and day-to-day running costs for the centre themselves.
Inspired was founded in 2014 by a group of parents of young adults with learning disabilities who wanted to have more purpose in their lives and a more meaningful role in the community.
Thanks to the Pobal funding, Maree said they will be extending their services from three days to five days a week from November and they have advertised for positions of Project Co-ordinator and Project Leader.
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“On foot of the Pobal funding we want to expand the project to meet the needs of more people with intellectual learning disabilities. We are putting out a call for anyone in Listowel, Killarney or other parts of Kerry who want to join. It’s important to state that people who already attending other service providers in Kerry can also choose to come to Inspired and participate in our courses,” said Maree.
They are employing a job coach who can liaise with businesses in Tralee and other towns in Kerry to set out proper opportunities for people with learning disabilities.
“The participants tell us what courses they would like to pursue and then we can get the tutors in. Now, thanks to funding, we can pay these tutors,” said Maree.
Giving back to the community is very important to Inspired as Maree explained.
“In one of our Life Skills classes, the participants decide what kind of things they want to do to give back to our community. I think it’s very important that people with disabilities have a sense of giving back, so they have been very good at identifying causes they want to support. If any community organisation wants to come to us we’re always looking for people to join with, like we have in the past with the Tidy Towns and Breast Cancer Awareness,” said Maree.
To find out more about Inspired and the courses they offer, please go to their website here.
