Richmond helps local charity with donations from campus

A Kingston-based charity supporting people with learning disabilities has sent the entire team at the University a note of thanks for supplying them with a range of equipment and items including chairs, tables, printers and even a giant teddy, ahead of the campus move to Chiswick Park.

George Tong, Trustee at Kingston MENCAP, said, “We are very thankful to the University for the equipment offered to and gratefully received by Kingston MENCAP. As a small Charity supporting people with learning disabilities and running a community centre we have struggled throughout the pandemic losing all of our income from community group hires.

“As a consequence, we have been focused on surviving and have had little or no funds to replace old and broken equipment. The donation of the chairs and tables in particular has been a huge benefit to us both for the use of our own members in supporting us to attract hires from other community groups.”

He went on to say, “The Centre is very well used by a diverse range of community organisations, including Young Carers (children who are primary carers for other family members), E- Co-op providing meaningful activity for people with mental health issues, The Kingston Chinese Association, Faith groups of various denominations, as well as Orchard Hill College and Achieving for Children.

“We really appreciate the surplus office equipment including the waste bins, which has saved us further expenditure and will allow us to use more of our funds on running the social clubs and activities that are so important to the people we support. In particular the ink jet printer has allowed us to now legibly print posters and flyers as well as our newsletter.
We are equally delighted to receive the enormous teddy bear which will be the much sought-after centre piece of our Christmas raffle and has already had a starring role in some of our online Zoom calls to our members.

All of the members and volunteers at Kingston MENCAP would like to wish you all the best with you move to your new campus and again pass on our gratitude for taking the time to consider us and support us in our work.”