Our services and Community Response under COVID-19
We're continuing through these still uncertain times to provide services and supports to individuals and community groups, mostly connecting with people through phone calls, individual online sessions and Zoom.
Our workshops, training programmes and networking groups have continued - adapted to take place successfully online.
Our BIA food project continues to deliver food every week to local individuals and families - and community groups in Bray and Greystones for them to re-distribute to people who are in need of additional food support. Our Christmas food appeal in Tesco gave a great boost to the amount of food we have to share in the lead-up to Christmas.
Our SPECS service again this year has been overwhelmed by the generosity of people in local businesses and the local community who have donated over €1000 to support families in need at this time of year. We appreciate all the effort and it will go a long way in making Christmas better for families struggling this year.
See www.brayareapartnership.ie to find out more about all our current services and supports.
Providing information in the community
Our COVID-19 Information and Resources page continues to provide information and links to local and national resources and supports across a range of subject areas that may be of use, given that it seems we are not out of the woods just yet.
In addition, we manage the Disability Bray Facebook, Disability Bray Twitter, Wicklow Community Directory Facebook and Wicklow Community Directory Twitter accounts and update them regularly with relevant information on developments, supports and services during these still challenging times. Please do give us a follow and tag us with anything you want us to share on these pages.
Minister visits our Healthy Ireland projects
We were delighted to welcome Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly TD, to our SPECS Bray Family Centre recently to learn more about some of our Healthy Ireland funded projects and meet the people involved on the ground.
The minister chatted to parents and children involved in some of the projects and learned about the exciting work made possible in the local community with this funding - including a new resource booklet to support the mental health of young mams and dads, wellbeing workshops in local DEIS schools and the work of our ASPIRE Social Prescribing service. Read more HERE.
Our new employment initiative for people with disabilities
We're delighted that our new IMPACT employment initiative for people with disabilities in the Bray and North Wicklow Area will be starting to deliver services from early 2022. A co-ordinator is in place and we're in the process of recruiting for a further three workers - keep an eye on our Vacancies page for when the jobs are posted!
IMPACT will work with people with disabilities to support them to achieve sustainable employment, become self-employed or progress in their careers - providing person-centred supports such as training, competency-building, mentoring and in-work supports - and working in collaboration with local employers. Find out more HERE.
Report highlights benefits of Chatterboxes initiative to local children
The Chatterboxes initiative, which takes a novel approach to supporting children’s speech, language and communication needs, has been found to have made a real difference in the lives of children and families in the Bray and North Wicklow areas, according to a recent report.
The report, Sustainability Through Collaboration, highlights the success of this new model, which works closely with key adults in children’s lives to help them support children’s speech, language and communication needs. Chatterboxes is a collaborative project of the HSE and our SPECS project. Find out more HERE.
A huge thanks to all the generous shoppers who contributed food items to our Bia Food Project collection in Tesco Vevay Bray on Sunday 5th December, as part of the Tesco Christmas Food Appeal. Our thanks to Tesco for this opportunity - Every Little Helps!
All of the items donated will go towards providing food for people in need this Christmas in the Bray and North Wicklow areas - working with our partners in organisations such as Five Loaves and Bray Women's Refuge.
This is a great boost for our Bia Food Project, which redistributes surplus food every week for the benefit of the community - with the trojan work of our Tús team members. The food is sourced through Food Cloud and local supermarkets that work with Food Cloud. Find out more about Bia HERE.
SEED social enterprises support programme
Our new SEED Regeneration Programme offers free one-to-one mentoring, networking and training to local social enterprises and social entrepreneurs and has recently delivered a programme of free webinars for local social enterprises or groups considering this option.
Click on this video about the brilliant local social enterprises we have supported in recent times.
Social enterprises are businesses whose core objective is to achieve a social, societal, or environmental impact. They often work to support disadvantaged groups such as unemployed people or people with disabilities, or address issues such as food poverty, social housing or environmental matters.
If you're a local social social enterprise or a community group interested in exploring setting up a social enterprise, do get in touch with us - find out more HERE.
Our CARA Care and Repair service continues to carry out small jobs such as hedge and grass cutting, minor carpentry, small paint jobs, replacing light bulbs, installing smoke alarms and moving light furniture for older and more vulnerable people living in the Bray and North Wicklow areas.
The idea is to support people to remain in their own homes and live as independently as possible by improving their housing conditions and making their homes more comfortable.
Check out a glowing testimony from a user of the service in this video! Contact details for CARA are HERE.
