Dear Cyrus Todiwala OBE
I would like to thank you for your article of July 4th 2017 highlighting the wonderful work undertaken by Foxes Academy, which trains young people with learning disabilities in hospitality.
My son Tom attended Foxes and benefitted enormously from his time there. Tom learnt that work was an important part of life and his positive experience equipped him to go out into the workplace on his return to his home town of Basingstoke. Since then he has worked at a local supermarket and is appreciated by his colleagues for his hard work, reliability, punctuality and good team spirit.
I was inspired by Tom’s experience at Foxes, but also frustrated by the lack of other opportunities for people with learning disabilities in our local area. Many parents of people with learning disabilities who I spoke to said it felt l as though options for their children became very narrow once they left school.
For these reasons, myself and other volunteers made the bold move of setting up The Café Project, Basingstoke. That was back in 2004, and I’m delighted to report that the charity is still going strong and training 16 students each year in catering and customer service.
Not only are our students given the opportunity to undertake a BTEC qualification, but every week they gain work experience in a real-life café setting. For some, the skills they learn can help them secure mainstream employment in the future. But for others, it is simply sense of personal achievement they gain that makes it all worthwhile.
The support we received from the wider industry in the early days of setting up the project was phenomenal. And of course, we could not continue to run the project without our customers, who are often as inspired as we are by the achievements of our students.
So thank you for bringing the work of charities like Foxes to readers’ attention. As you say, they are initiatives for the industry to be proud of, and it is vital that it continues to support them.
Christine Fisher
Trustee and Founder of The Café Project, Basingstoke