Cahersiveen Day Services
Cahersiveen Day Services is a community based service affording the people it supports many opportunities to experience various aspects of community living and working. Cahersiveen town and surrounding areas provides employment, work placement, social farming and many educational and leisure activities. The service is located in Canon Lane in a large house provided by the Cúnamh Group.
Kerry Parents and Friends Association (KPFA) is a registered charity, a company limited by guarantee (CLG).
KPFA was established in 1973 as a fundraising body to support services for people with intellectual disability in Kerry. In 1978, the KPFA Committee realised that a residential service was needed to cater for adults with intellectual disability and they then set up that residential service in Tralee at Mount Eagle Lodge, beginning their new journey in becoming a service provider in their own right, for those over 18 who otherwise would have little access to supports. The founding committee set up branches around the county who would fundraise for the running of the Tralee Service and by 1984, they had enough funds to open a second service in Rathmore, through the donation of a house by the O’Leary Family. The house was named Fr. Corridan Centre, in honour of Fr. John Corridan who led the Rathmore Branch in realising this dream.
Over the years, KPFA negotiated the further expansion of services with the HSE in an effort to meet unmet need as the demand for support grew and today, the organisation operates from 31 Centres throughout Kerry providing day, residential, respite, home support and outreach services to more than 300 people and their families. It employs more than 300 staff, in excess of 30 volunteers, scheme workers and students in the front line, who are all contributing in their own way to the enhancement of the services. Active branches still exist in Listowel, Castleisland and Rathmore and they run many local events to support the services, but with the Association catering for such need in Kerry, more and more unrestricted funding is required to pay for services not covered by the HSE and to maintain buildings and the transport fleet. For this reason, fundraising is as important as ever and KPFA is very thankful to the communities within Kerry for their ongoing support.
The Association is a member of the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers (NFVSP) which is the national umbrella organisation of voluntary/non-statutory agencies who provide direct services to people with intellectual disability and autism in Ireland on the basis of service arrangements with the HSE.