A child has a bicycle adapted at one of Tad's bike clinics.
Readymix is making life a tad easier for the disabled
Readymix is leading the way in corporate citizenship by supporting Technical Aid to the Disabled (TAD), which aims to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities Australia-wide, including isolated areas. Readymix chief executive Karl Watson said the partnership with TAD is a way for Readymix to support many of the communities in which we do business.
"One example of a project Readymix is supporting is TAD's work to make it possible for children with disabilities to attend their local schools rather than needing to travel further - or even live away from home. TAD is designing and constructing specialised steps and rails for children with disabilities to use, for example, in public school toilets and other buildings," said Watson. "We believe TAD is a fine example of people volunteering their time and skills to assist others in their community. Many Readymix people have also been involved in TAD over the years. We greatly admire and respect this commitment to help others and are pleased that we can support them."
TAD is an organisation of volunteers who are either retired engineers or similarly skilled and experienced people giving of their time, skills, knowledge, tools and workshops. What makes these volunteers even more special is that they design and construct devices for people with disabilities, when there is no commercial product available. Many of the products are unique - new inventions designed to meet the specific needs of people.
Raschelle Bonanno addressing fellow students on the benefits of the program at the Oak Flats High School 'No Dole' launch.
Readymix's no dole project
Readymix is passionate about jobs for young people. This is why we support the Beacon Foundation. We believe very strongly in what Beacon stands for: real, sustainable jobs for young people. Beacon develops and offers micro programs for use within a community. It offers self-help not subsidies. Ownership remains within the community, because that is where the true benefits lie.
At Albion Park, in Shellharbour NSW, Readymix is supporting a 'no dole' coordinator at Oak Flats High School to assist young school leavers in identifying career pathways, as well as assisting with goal setting and mentoring. The coordinator aims to ensure that either further education and/or sustainable employment is achieved by each student.
Raschelle Bonanno, a year 10 student, had just told the school counsellor that she planned to leave school immediately as she was unhappy and lacking in motivation. Her schoolwork was suffering and she was finding it increasingly difficult to attend school each day. Raschelle's long-term career goal was to leave school, wait until she was 18 and then apply to join the army.
The option of part time school attendance - coupled with work placement - went down well with both the student and her parents. All felt that there was nothing to lose. Raschelle began working at Readymix one day per week. The work placement consisted of a variety of office duties.
Within weeks, Raschelle's school attendance improved. Six weeks later, Rachelle again spoke with her school counsellor to discuss the option of returning to school full time. She had come to realize that, the more education she had, the greater the employment opportunities she would have in future.
Raschelle's parents were overwhelmed with the support given to their daughter and the positive impact this opportunity had on her: "We can't thank you enough; we have our daughter back."
Raschelle is now attending school regularly and is in the final stages of completing Year 10, fulfilling all requirements to obtain her school certificate and has decided to come back and do year 11 and 12 also.
