Fundraising drive launched for Doncaster employability service

Doncaster Deaf Trust has launched a fundraising drive to help support the growth of its pioneering specialist employability service.
 
Aspire to Be is for adults aged 19-60 from across South Yorkshire who are Deaf/hard of hearing, neuro diverse or those who have any other communication difficulty helping to make a valuable difference to their lives by developing their skills and supporting them into work.
 
As part of its approach, the service, on Leger Way, boasts five ‘simulated work’ areas - a warehouse, retail shop, café and catering section and hotel room. These work environments are used by Aspire to Be staff to work with service users to breakdown certain tasks within a job role and explain in detail the different elements involved.
 
And now, as registered charity, the Doncaster Deaf Trust team has launched an appeal to raise £2,000 to add a healthcare suite to its range of ‘simulated work’ areas and an additional £3,678 for two new training rooms.
 
The campaign has so far received support from Doncaster Junior Lawyer Division which has named the Trust as it's Charity of the Year and is supporting the healthcare suite project with fundraising. They have so far raised £399 from a casino night and more than £1,800 from the 10-mile Tough Mudder Yorkshire event.
 
Tina Rafferty, programme manager for Aspire to Be, said: “Our new healthcare suite has been designed in conjunction with Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI) - Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - to make it as realistic as possible. We now hope to raise further money to enable us to redecorate the area and buy any more essential equipment and furniture we need to make sure the healthcare mock area is as realistic as possible.
 
“Our Aspire to Be service users all have something to offer but just need to be taught skills and gain experience in a different, more tailored way to suit their needs and these simulated areas really help us support them more effectively. They give people real life work experience and gain knowledge of working practices and job expectations.
 
“Linking up with businesses in the area such as Premier Inn for our hotel room, GXO for our warehouse area and now DRI - Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for our new healthcare room is vital as it enables us to give our service users real-life practical experience of the various roles within these sectors which not only helps develop their skills and build on what they learn with us but also allows them to grow their confidence and self-esteem. And then the employers can benefit too with some strong candidates from our service to help fill any job vacancies they may have.
 
“In addition, our new training rooms will provide much needed space to support our ‘working with a small group approach’ which aids training to enable service users to share common goals have a sense of belonging and identity and promotes interdependence.
 
“We’d like to thank Doncaster Junior Lawyer Division and Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust for their support so far, it really is appreciated. We hope their enthusiasm will rub off on others from our local community who will also want to support us with fundraising for our campaign so we can raise the rest of the money we need and open these new rooms as soon as possible. We’d love to hear from anyone who would like to help us.”
 
For more information please contact Becca Lynch on rlynch@ddt-deaf.org.uk and donate via the JustGiving Link:  Doncaster Deaf Trust - JustGiving