New Down Syndrome Kerry Centre In Tralee To Be ‘More Than Just A Shop’

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Rachel Fitzgerald of Down Syndrome Kerry outside the soon to be opened shop.

THE Down Syndrome Kerry (DSK) organisation are currently in the middle of preparations for opening their new charity centre here in town, with hopes that the new set-up will prove to be much more than just a shop.

The centre will be located on 11 High Street, just opposite the Kerry School Of Music with the organisation hoping to have it up and running by June 24.

Ardfert woman, Rachel Fitzgerald of DSK, is one of the main people working on the project behind the scenes and we asked her  how work is progressing and what people can expect on opening.

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“It’s coming along great now. People have been very good for helping out. We’re getting the interior ready at the moment, we’ve most of the painting done and we’ve got different schemes involved it and that have been giving their time voluntarily including a carpenter. People have been very supportive of it now. I’ve been quite bowled over by the amount of support behind it,” she said.

Rachel says the shop and DSK organisation as a whole, are on the look-out for more volunteers to come down and help out if they can. While they have experienced volunteers on hand who have been through this before, she feels that the more volunteers they have, the more successful they will be in the new shop.

She has big plans for the new shop, as she hopes to put a new angle on the idea and makes it just that bit more of a unique place to visit.

“We’re trying to kind of make it slightly unique – to have a few more selling points that maybe other charity shops don’t have. We’re hoping to have it be somewhat like a resource centre for our members with Down Syndrome, for both kids and adults. We might be selling products that they would use, like ‘Lámh’, it’s a basic sign language [book] that a lot of our kids would use and there’s DVDs and books that we can sell too. We want to sell different resources that would be useful for our members as well,” she continued.

“It [the shop] will be open Monday to Saturday, it’s hoped the adult members with Down Syndrome would work here and be gaining valuable work experience as well. It’s a very exciting venture you know, because it’s not just about selling stuff. It’s going to be more than just a shop, we want to show the community the contribution that adults with Down Syndrome can make to society, and to just get them more involved in the town,” she said.

With work continuing on the shop at a quick pace and with the fantastic community support, we will surely see this fantastic resource open its doors sooner rather than later.

If you would like to help out with getting the shop ready, call Rachel Fitzgerald on 086-8692256.

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