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Partners in Impact

Together with our charity partners, we're making strides toward a sustainable and compassionate future. Discover the incredible work they do and join us in making a difference.

MASI

MASI came together after the protests in the Direct Provision centres in 2014. They believe that speaking together in one voice, moving together in one direction, we are much stronger, our voices much louder and more difficult to ignore and dismiss. Part of the purpose of direct provision and dispersal is to keep people apart, divided, ghettoised, their power stolen.  MASI is a way to take back power and demand freedom, justice and dignity for all asylum seekers.

MASI demands an end to direct provision, the right to work and education, residency for all in the system, and an end to the brutal deportation regime.

For more information https://www.masi.ie/about-us/

Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment

At Offset Fashion, we're dedicated to sustainability, circular economy and responsible resource use, principles that align perfectly with our chosen charity partner, Voice Ireland.

VOICE is the leading environmental charity advocating for effective waste and circular economy policy in Ireland and on an EU level. VOICE also works closely with communities and individuals on public engagement and education to effect behaviour change around waste generation.

VOICE embraces the opportunity to partner with Offset Fashion as part of our actions towards a more sustainable fashion.

 For more information, please visit www.voiceireland.org 

Jigsaw

We are the National Centre for Youth Mental Health in Ireland and we understand young people’s mental health. We are a community of professionals, supporters, and volunteers with a shared belief in an Ireland where every young person’s mental health is valued and supported. We offer a listening ear, and give advice and support to young people aged 12 – 25 years-old. We also give families, teachers, and those who support young people’s mental health ways to cope and skills to be there for young people.

For more information, please visit www.jigsaw.ie

Museum of Childhood Ireland

The Museum of Childhood Ireland Músaem Óige na hÉireann is a pioneering museum – a new and welcome destination and resource for Ireland. Diverse, enlightening programmes, displays, archives and events reimagines how children can be truly cherished and celebrated in Irish society. The museum’s collection is a rich resource to inspire critical reflection and timely conversations about childhood – from its dark and disturbing traumas to its more inventive and joyful narratives – and the extraordinary magic of possibility that childhood can be. 

For more information, visit https://museumofchildhood.ie/

Since the beginning of the pandemic

we have seen a huge surge in homelessness that is growing constantly. With the housing crisis and cost of living crisis more and more people are using our service each week. We provide hot meals, snacks, tents, sleeping bags, emergency blankets, clothing and more on Monday nights in Grafton Street. Helping our homeless friends is our number one priority.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066659226080

The Down Syndrome Centre

The Down Syndrome Centre is the first service-led, dedicated charity for children with Down syndrome living in Ireland.  We have two dedicated centres in Dublin and a further three centres operating under our umbrella in Cork, Midlands and Carrickmacross.

After years of fundraising, the first dedicated centre opened in south Dublin in 2014 and has been providing vital early intervention therapy to children with Down syndrome in the Leinster area ever since.  A second Dublin centre was opened in Swords in 2022 to meet the growing demand for services in north Dublin. Currently, 350 children are receiving regular therapy through our centres.

Our Dublin centres have an expert team of 9 clinical staff who specialise in providing vital early intervention therapy to children with Down syndrome. We have three further centres running under our umbrella in Cork, Midlands and the Northeast.

Overview/Mission/Vision

Our mission is to create dedicated centres that provide support and services to children with Down syndrome, their families, and carers of people with Down syndrome; helping them to reach their full potential and creating a brighter future.

We are doing this by providing vital early intervention therapy and services to children with Down syndrome in a centre for the whole family.  Our Vision is to ensure that every individual with Down syndrome in Ireland can live full and independent lives.

 Goal

We strive to create a brighter future for children with Down syndrome by giving them the opportunity to learn and progress like their peers.Our goalis to help children with Down syndrome to reach their full potential and to live independent and fulfilling lives.Currently, 320 children avail of services weekly in our two Dublin centres.

Core Programmes/initiatives/Services

The services available at our centres include;

  • Individual Occupational Therapy (OT)
  • Physiotherapy
  • Speech & Language Therapy
  • Lámh (which is a manual sign system for intellectual disabilities)
  • Group Services and Children, Teen and Sibling Workshops
  • SKIP (Special Kids Intervention Programme for Preschool)
  • Triona’s Tots
  • Summer camps
  • Parental Support, Seminars, information evenings and a community for all who attend
  • Online support nationwide

 Why we exist

At a Dáil debate in March 2022, it was revealed that over 45,000 children in Ireland are on waiting lists for assessment or intervention. We at the Down Syndrome Centre have first-hand knowledge of the frustration and challenges facing parents of children with Down syndrome.  Their children have received no assessment or services through the state and if the Down Syndrome Centre did not exist, there is nothing to support the well-being of their vulnerable children.  Research shows that Early Intervention Therapy is essential and greatly improves the outcomes for children with Down syndrome. 

Children with Down syndrome have difficulty with their speech and with understanding language. Without Speech & Language Therapy, and Occupational Therapy, these children lose the opportunity to learn how to effectively communicate with the world around them and so can become isolated from society as they mature.

What are the Benefits

What happens in the early years of a child’s life, is essential for long-term effects on health, language and communication, cognitive and social development. 

 What an average child picks up easily, must be learnt and taught to children with Down syndrome.  Early Intervention (EI) also has a significant impact on how a child integrates with their peers in preschool, primary school and throughout life.

Without intervention, a child risks missing some of the most important learning and developmental milestones.  Early intervention can start at 6 weeks and is a set of services designed to help children who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities. 

Early childhood is a period of great opportunity for optimum brain growth, but it is also a period of vulnerability.  This early window of opportunity, if not harnessed, can prevent optimal brain development and lifelong well-being.   

Early intervention is forward-looking, even into adulthood.  It has been shown that early intervention therapies do far more than provide immediate benefits during the developmental years.  Therapy significantly increases the child’s ability to integrate into future social environments, including school, community, and ultimately employment.  Early Intervention Therapy can also prevent problems from developing that will have an impact on physical health in later life.

Including Children with Down Syndrome in early childhood care and education promotes the right of all children to live in an inclusive society. In early childhood, children make sense of the world and their place within it.  Children with a disability can only do this to the extent that they are allowed to participate.

Successful integration starts with a basic understanding of the developmental status of a child with Ds.  Early Intervention Therapy is vital to this process and refers to a range of specialised programmes for children with Ds to allow for successful integration into mainstream education.

Cost of running the Down Syndrome Centre

The cost of running the two full-time therapy centres in Dublin is over €1 Million per annum. 

All our income is raised through fundraising, grants, gifts, donations, legacy, and corporate partnerships.