This article is from page 30 of the 2008-05-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
A KILLALOE initiative which makes life better for up to 300 chil- dren at a time is one of three in the town which has a chance of scooping €10,000 in the AIB Better Ireland aN WLU kel
Working one-on-one with troubled children, running courses in person- al development and putting the fun back into sun with summer camps, the Clarecare community childcare initiative is helping children and young people aged two to 18 years.
The childcare programme provides one-on-one support for children who have been referred by GP’s, the HSE or brought by school or families.
“Some of these children need help with dealing with a family separa- tion, anger management issues or
maybe they are having difficulty making the transition from primary to secondary school. We work with them for six to eight weeks in areas such as making good life choices and coping,’ said Community Childcare Worker with the project, Sinead Cor- bett.
As well as the individual support for around 15 young clients at a time, the initiative runs courses in schools and at their base at the Molua cen- tre to deal with topical issues such as bullying, personal development, improving social skills and sex edu- cation. Up to 170 children take part in the programmes which are offered each year.
The parents are not forgotten and they are offered the Parenting Plus programme to help hone parenting skills and offer advice on how to deal
with difficult situations.
In the summer, recreational pro- erammes see kids getting out and playing sports enjoying trips away, learning drama or hip-hop dancing and taking part in arts and crafts.
The programme runs in sections; the Youth Camp, the Pre-School Camp and three others for kids aged between five and 12 years.
For the busy summer schedule up to 20 local volunteers chip in with the childcare and social workers in- volved in the initiative.
“This is very much a community based initiative,’ said Ms Corbett. “These programmes help children to develop personal and social skills and we need funding to help develop the programmes.”
The AIB Better Ireland Awards were set up to provide assistance
and recognition for groups helping disadvantaged children. Each branch of the bank has a €10,000 top prize to give away and organisations are voted for by text.
Each text costs 60c including VAT and all proceeds, less operator charges and VAT, go to the organisa- tion voted for in the text. Competi- tion lines are open until June 6. The organisation which has the most text votes wins the €10,000.
To vote for the childcare initiative, text KILLALOEA to 53099.