Provincial Grand Lodge of Essex
Press Releases
Dagenham Youth Club are ‘Absolutely Phab’ulous’ for Freemasons donation
Ab Phab Youth Club in Dagenham benefit from a £15,000 donation from Essex Freemasons
A recent visit to Ab Phab Youth Club in Dagenham, was a real eye-opener and pleasure for Chris Hicks, Essex Freemasons Charity Steward. He described it as an oasis of happiness, excitement and absolute enjoyment, to see so many children participating in activities and tasks.
Ab Phab https://www.abphabyouthclub.org.uk/ was started in1997 when it was identified that a safe space was needed in the area for disabled and special needs children and young adults. Carers and parents got together to create this space for fun and friendship. It has now grown to a bustling club, meeting three nights a week throughout the year (48 weeks), having many day trips and at least one off-site residential week a year. This year the club took 40 children and young adults to Stubbers Adventure Centre, in Havering.
Ab Phab is run from the Vibe Youth Centre in Dagenham during Monday through to Wednesday evenings, from 6:30pm – 8:30pm by volunteers and paid staff. It costs around £125,000 per year to run the club, which supports around 100+ children and young adults from 11 to 25. Several sizable donations to fund the club come from the ‘National Lottery’ and ‘Children In Need’, as well as a large number of smaller organisations and individuals. Chris, therefore, was pleased to announce a donation from the Masonic Charity Fund on behalf of Essex Freemasons of £15,000 over three years.
Louise Harris, Youth Development Manager, said, “The money donated from Essex Freemasons, will enable us to continue our work in preparing these children and young adults to progress towards independence and enjoy life. This will support our range of projects including accessible sports delivery, creative arts, employability projects, and our thriving garden where young people get to grow ingredients and use them in cooking sessions.”
Chris, a Dagenham boy himself said, “Having been brought up only five minutes away from the site of the club it makes me proud that we, as Masons, have been able to support this important community project. In these times it is the generosity of others that enables these kinds of projects to flourish, when it is not possible by other means. It fits very well into the service element with Freemasons in the community.”
-ENDS-
Photos
A Wednesday evening, with everybody!
Louise Harris (Youth Development Manager, AbPhab) with Chris Hicks (Essex Freemasons)