The Parents & Friends Committee is a small group of parents whose children attend the Central Remedial Clinic school and clinic in Clontarf . We are a support group for the children and their families and the annual Art Exhibition is our main fundraising event. The funds raised at the exhibition are for:
The 7-13year olds have their project in the first two weeks in July, which includes swimming at the C.R.C., wheelchair sports at I.W.A., arts and crafts, disco and day trips to bowling, Zoo, Bray, Blanchardstown Centre and places of interest etc. The older group 14-18 year olds attend the last two weeks in July and they just want to hang out with the teenage volunteers and get out and about all the time!
Twenty disabled children attend each week and we have fantastic teenage volunteers on a one to one basis with the disabled children/teenagers. They always have a great time together and it’s a great experience for all involved. . It’s a great outlet for our children who are really isolated from their school friends during the long summer months and it’s great respite for us parents to know our kids are out enjoying themselves. Most of our funds go to the summer project, as it is very costly to run and we get assistance with the transport from the C.R.C. and the planning from the Social Workers department.
We donate money to the C.R.C. Droichead Youth Club at every Art Exhibition. The youth club meets every Monday evening in the C.R.C. and is totally organised by young volunteers. They go out bowling, theatre, cinema, and for meals and they all go away for a long weekend every year together. The weekly youth club meeting is often the highlight and only trip out with other teenagers that our children have and we are indebted to the volunteers who have made this possible. Our children are moderately to very severely physically disabled and so any trip away (or summer project) like this for them involves huge planning with backup from nurses, care workers, and special transport and therefore large amount of funds are needed for this.
We also give a donation to the workshop social club, and to the day care centres.
Over the years, the committee have organised seminars for parents, Halloween parties, Christmas Toy Shows, Confirmation and 1st Communion parties and the annual Graduation dinner in June as well as the annual Summer Project. Sadly, as the committee is so small now, we cannot undertake all these events anymore. We would love to see more new parents on the committee. As parents ourselves of disabled children, we understand the huge pressures that parents and families are under, the difficulties of travelling distances to meetings and even the difficulties of getting out at night. However, talking to other parents at the meetings is very beneficial and supportive and at the same time, sharing the workload.
We would really like to have more of our friends on the committee, people who know our children and may not be so tied down at home and could give some time to the association. If you are interested, you can contact the committee through the CRC , phone 01 8542200.