Charity celebrates 25 years of caring with compassion for those in need

Charity celebrates 25 years of caring with compassion for those in need

4 October 2017

A LOCAL charity which provides care for people with a learning disability celebrated its 25th anniversary with a special birthday party last week.

Downpatrick-based Mainstay DRP — which began life as the Downe Residential Project — has adapted the care it provides over the years to meet the changing needs of clients, offering respite care, supported housing, day-care services and vocational training alongside traditional residential care.

The charity, which employs around 160 staff, celebrated its 25th birthday last Friday with a day-long celebration at its stunning Cumulus Heights building located off the Killough Road.

The near £4m centre is based on a three acre site, providing an ultra-modern facility to provide valuable services for people with a learning disability and their families.

The charity’s philosophy is to meet people’s needs that are specific to their disability, and believes passionately that a person’s disability should not interfere with their life experience and that they should be provided with as much help and support as possible.

During last week’s 25th anniversary celebrations, clients were joined by relatives, staff, visitors and members of the management team, some of whom who have been with the charity since it was set up a quarter of a century ago to create a local service providing high quality care and support their loved ones required, close to their family homes.

Founder members who attended last week’s event included Dr Paddy Moore and Mary McCargo who are delighted the charity has reached a significant milestone.

There was a loud cheer when a beautiful anniversary cake was cut by management committee member Michael Morrissey who was joined by Mary Kelly, heralding the start of a packed programme of entertainment including Mainstay’s Got Talent featuring not one, but two, Elvis Presleys in the guise of Kevin Murphy and Derek McCully. 

There was also a games workshop, snooker tournament, line dancing and a barbecue in the picturesque garden in the afternoon.

Nicola Trainor, acting manager at Cumulus Heights has worked for Mainstay DRP for 13 years and been based at a number of its facilities in Downpatrick.

Nicola worked in the charity’s Ardcora service for 11 years and said she was lucky to become part of the “big change” from residential living to a supported housing service which only enabled them to live a more normal way of life.

During her address, Nicola paid tribute to Mainstay DRP, explaining that in July this year she had the opportunity to work in day care and was pleased with the decision she made “as day care, like all the services the charity provides, puts the welfare and happiness of the service users at the forefront of all decision making.”

She continued: “The care we deliver is compassionate, safe and, as much as possible, fun. We provide a range of services including plans for a new group which will result in more community inclusion, including attendance at the local college.

“Everyone has had so much fun decorating the rooms for our 25th anniversary party today and recalling and sharing their stories over the years. The people who use our facilities are the reason we come to work and they bring us so much joy and fun every day. I want to thank all of them for making my job so worthwhile.”

Nicola thanked the charity’s chief executive, Helen Owen and all the management staff and committee members for all they do, praising their hard work, drive, dedication and support.

During her address, Mrs Owen described the work carried out by clients and staff for the anniversary celebrations as “absolutely amazing” and said that over the past few months the charity conducted a service quality evaluation.

“This is important as it provides the clients, their families and professionals with an opportunity to tell us what they think we are doing right and what areas could be improved upon or changed. 

“I am delighted to say that overwhelmingly, every service was rated as safe, effective and compassionate and that to us is very satisfying. There have also been suggestions that there are things we might do differently or change and we will take all this on board and consider it,” the chief executive continued.

“Even with areas that have caused us some problems, including transport, there was still a high degree of happiness and satisfaction and none of that would have been possible if it had not been for our management committee, some of whom 25 years ago sat around a table to look at providing services for local people in the area.”

Mrs Owen said she is confident that with a hard working committee behind the organisation, services will continue to develop and expand because people know what is needed by families, adding: “The commitment and dedication of all our staff is remarkable.”