Yars

The Frank Rogers Foundation is proud to announce its support for the Young Adult Respite Service C.I.C (Y.A.R.S) with a generous £5,000 donation. The donation has been instrumental in updating and developing a more accessible kitchen space for the disabled young adults that Y.A.R.S. serves, providing a safe, inclusive, and user-friendly environment for essential cookery sessions.

Y.A.R.S, established in 2017, is dedicated to enhancing the personal and social development of disabled young adults aged 18-35 across Knowsley. Offering a range of physical and educational activities tailored to individual needs, the organisation focuses on fostering friendships, boosting confidence, and promoting independence in a supportive and fun setting.

Thanks to the contribution from the FR Foundation, Y.A.R.S has been able to deliver a new and improved kitchen that has already made a meaningful impact on their services. Dave, a local chef, leads regular cookery sessions, where over 110 service users per month are developing valuable life skills. Participants learn how to prepare nutritious and affordable meals, skills they can transfer to their homes, whether they live with family or independently.

Thomas Radcliffe, Founder said:

“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at FR for your kind donation and thinking of us. We are truly appreciative.

Oliver is a 26 year male with autism, who attended Sen College KCC for 6 months before leaving and joining Yars Day Centre. Oliver really struggled to make friends and engage with others at college, he felt he education was too much for him but didn't want to leave and let his family down. Mum visited Yars and thought it would be a good alternative for him.

Oliver started with us and was great, he did struggle to make friends and engage with peers due to his autism but we tried our very upmost to keep him engaged and working with him to develop his confidence and self esteem. At Yars we offer a wide range of activities, such a football, swimming, days out and community engagement. Oliver wouldn't really participate in any of this, he was happy staying back at the centre listening to music.

We explored a person centred approach or Oliver looking at a number of needs led activities that he would engage in and we quickly discovered that cookery is something he expressed a liking too. We worked with a local chef, called Dave, who is based in old School house, a community centre 2 minutes from us. Dave allowed us access to his kitchen and he worked one to one with Oliver, making meals and sandwiches for small events and parties at the centre. Oliver loved this and him and dave would spend many hours preparing meal and serving them to the local community.

We wanted to increase Olivers friendships circle so we asked Oliver to choose a number of people who he would like to get involved in the cookery sessions with him and we called this "cooking with love", Oliver led on the programme and this was delivered for 12 weeks, every Friday.

Oliver took a real liking to this reverse inclusion model and develop a core group of cooking buddies that he felt safe and supportive of. We then transferred this activity over to our day centre with Oliver at the heart of the programme, still working with Dave.

6 months later, Oliver decided he was ready to return to college and now wanted to explore a career in cookery/catering. he enrolled on a college course with the support of yars and mum and this September he returns to college to undertake a supported internship programme with the hope to find employment within the catering/cookery industry.

Oliver's mum is really happy for him and Oliver has developed many new skills and his confidence has increased. he is really excited to start this new chapter in college and will be able to visit Yars on his days off. Without the support of FR we would not have been able to provide this type of one to one support for our disabled adults at yars and Oliver may have never returned to education, something that really upset him when leaving.”

The new kitchen space and cookery programme are empowering disabled adults to gain confidence in the kitchen, giving them a new level of independence and self-sufficiency that will serve them throughout their lives. This donation reflects the FR Foundation’s commitment to making tangible differences in the communities it serves, supporting inclusivity and personal development through meaningful projects.