Carrick Centre Community Service Project Award – 5 December 2017

In April of this year the club donated £1000 to the Carrick Centre in Maybole to support trainees who have barriers to employment and to gain valuable work experience. The Carrick CAN (Create and Nurture) 15-week programme for these Young Adults with Additional Support Needs was considered a great success by all. Each trainee had a Personal Development Plan created specifically to take into account individual strengths, interests and future plans.

A number of members of our club have, along with John Ewing, Community Service Convenor, attended the Carrick Centre and seen for themselves the excellent work being done there.

Since then the Carrick Centre management, ably led by Coral McMillan, have identified a clear need for continuity of services for these Young Adults with Additional Support Needs. Findings from a pilot study have shown that there was a real need to help integrate the young people into their communities and to develop their confidence and independence.

Thus it was without hesitation that the club agreed to further financial support, through a Community Service Award, for assisting eight young adults in this project. They themselves have already come up with a number of ideas for social involvement in their communities. These include:

  • Christmas “pop up“ donation point for South Ayrshire foodbank
  • Assisting coastal rowing club with manual tasks to reduce work load of the older members
  • Bringing elderly people from local care home to local events such as Christmas fairs, services, kid’s panto, carol services etc
  • Creation of festive decorations for community spaces
  • Take on Maybole charity shop for a week to generate income for sustainability for the project.

The benefits of the new project will extend far beyond The Carrick Centre and its programme participants. It will benefit the community as a whole, help other organisations to coordinate events and provide additional support to diverse community groups.

Earlier in December John Ewing, and a small number of fellow Rotarians were invited to a Volunteer Coffee Morning at the Centre when he and President Craig Wilson presented the cheque for £930 to the team.

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