CADOWS

CADOWS caters for adults of all ages from the North Essex area who have learning, mental or physical disabilities, whether by birth, road accident or stroke. CADOWS is completely self sufficient and is run by unpaid volunteers, it does not receive any grants. The items the clients make under skilled supervision; plants the clients grow in our greenhouses and items donated, are sold to cover our running costs. CADOWS owns its own land & building, we are open 09.00 - 15.00 Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. CADOWS invited another charity Essex Blind Charity to share its premises on a Thursday. Demand for our services has risen dramatically over the last year, we currently have 45 clients. We charge clients the nominal sum of £3 a day to help with costs, including tea, coffee and biscuits, which are served three times a day with cakes in the afternoons. The subs total about £5,000 a year but the running costs for the minibus we use to collect and return our clients amounts to £4,000 a year and our utility bills and public liability insurance comes to another £6,000 plus other miscellaneous bills so it is a continual struggle by a bunch of unpaid volunteers helping to give some respite and help to others less fortunate. Six or seven times a year we take the clients on outings paid for by the volunteers. CADOWS is split into three sections, the wood workshop where the more able clients make wooden garden furniture which is sold in our little shop at the front of the building (which also sells goods donated by the public), the greenhouses where some of the clients tend plants to sell in our shop, and the main workshop where clients do various tasks for hospitals, children's nurseries and other organisations. We are not paid to do this work but we have managed to procure the tasks as long as we pay for the materials. They also make birthday cards and various soft furnishings for sale in the shop. The aim of CADOWS is three fold: to manage clients back into a working environment by learning new skills so they can become part of the main workforce; giving the clients a better quality of life; interacting with others whilst doing worthwhile work and to the ones who live at home some respite for their parents.