Hi, my name is Emma and I live in Skipton. I have a team of Enablers that I work with and they recently had a really great suggestion for me and asked if I would like to give it a go to help others in the community.
I like to be in my own company and can find events where people come together quite overwhelming. My Enablers know and understand this and they helped me to manage it by showing me pictures of all the different things I could be involved in. On inspecting the pictures, I chose to take part in the food preparation and baking by going shopping for the items we needed to make cakes and food for a Coffee Morning. With support from my Enablers, we called on the local community to come together and bring a donation of food that we would then make into a hamper that we could raffle to raise money.
My Enablers showed me pictures of different charities that I could raise money for and I chose one that was local and caught my attention.
On the day of the coffee morning, I attended with my enablers and stayed for a little while, enjoying my time there. I was able to see the cakes on offer and could view the very many donations of food that people had brought for those in need.
The charity that I chose was The Open Door Project in Colne, my local area.
The Open Door Project has a centre that was set up to respond to the needs of people that are vulnerable and live in social isolation, a little like me!
They provide support and guidance for anyone that needs it and have provided food parcels to vulnerable people and those in need.
After the event, I was enabled to go to the centre and I met a lovely lady called Chloe, who thanked me and was very pleased with the donations of food.
This was a great experience for me and helped me help others whilst also helping develop my place in the community and raise money for others who are in need.
It was a great sense of community by doing something that I really enjoy alongside something that was a challenge for me too.
