Chadwicks partners with Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) on over ten new initiatives to date this year and raises over €6,000 in latest fundraising drive
Many Chadwicks branches nationwide provided materials to upgrade IWA residential homes, community centre facilities and retail stores across Ireland
Chadwicks, Ireland’s leading builders’ merchants, has today announced that it has created over ten new initiatives with charity partner, Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) this year to date. As part of the initiatives, many Chadwicks branches nationwide supplied materials, garden furniture and gas boiler replacements to IWA residential homes, community centres and retail stores across Ireland, improving their functionality and accessibility for IWA tenants, visitors and customers.
The projects that Chadwicks has supported the IWA on this year include:
– Sensory garden upgrades at IWA’s Athlone community centre: The team at Chadwicks Ballinasloe supplied materials to build a new room (‘seomra’) at the centre’s sensory garden. The fully wheelchair accessible, purpose built ‘seomra’ enabled more people in the local community to take part in outdoor activities such as horticulture, regardless of weather conditions.
– Upgrades to IWA residential homes: Earlier this year, Chadwicks Kilkenny supplied gas boiler replacements as part of upgrades to two IWA residential homes in the local area, and the team at Chadwicks Galway City also supplied painting and flooring materials and gas boiler replacements to four IWA residential homes in Ballybane. All these homes needed crucial upgrades to maintain housing conditions for IWA tenants.
– IWA retail store upgrades: Several Chadwicks branches supplied painting and flooring materials to upgrade the IWA retail stores located in their communities. The branches that supplied materials included Chadwicks Robinhood Road in Dublin to the IWA store in Tallaght, Chadwicks Galway City to the IWA Tuam store, Chadwicks Midleton in Cork to the IWA Clonakilty and Skibbereen stores, Chadwicks Waterford to the IWA Dungarvan store, and Chadwicks Clonmel to the IWA Tipperary store.
– Community centre initiatives: Chadwicks Coolock in Dublin supplied materials and furniture to IWA’s Clontarf community centre, as part of a refurbishment the team were completing to the garden facilities. The Coolock team also supported an IWA computer workshop, with materials provided by Chadwicks for the classes.
In addition to these initiatives, teams at all Chadwicks branches across the country supported IWA’s annual fundraising day last month and through their donations, raised over €6,000 for the charity. Separately, ahead of Christmas last year, Chadwicks donated €10,000 to support the vital work being carried out by IWA.
Since 2021, Chadwicks has been a partner of the IWA, supplying building materials to its community centres and homes across the country. Chadwicks’ support helps improve accessibility for visitors and tenants, while benefitting hundreds of members, staff and IWA shop customers nationwide. The IWA operates 59 community centres and 52 wheelchair accessible and affordable homes in Ireland, as well as provides 1.3 million hours of assisted living services to more than 2,000 adults and children.
To celebrate these announcements, Irish Olympian and Sport Programme Manager at IWA, Kelly McGrory, joined branch manager at Chadwicks Limerick, Brian Doherty and the team at the store today.
Commenting on the initiatives, Brian said: ‘Chadwicks Group has been a passionate supporter of Irish Wheelchair Association now for several years. This year, we were delighted to continue working with the charity on new initiatives across Ireland and improve the accessibility of their facilities for IWA’s tenants, visitors and customers. All our team feel honoured to be able to support these projects and make a difference to so many families in communities nationwide’.
Kelly McGrory, IWA-Sport Programme Manager, added: ‘I am delighted to be at Chadwicks Limerick today to celebrate this occasion. Irish Wheelchair Association’s ongoing support from Chadwicks, an organisation with such a strong national network of branches and colleagues, is invaluable to us in improving the functionality of our facilities. Through supplying us with materials as well as their team’s expert knowledge, we have been able to continue improving accessibility for members of the community, and they have also helped us raise much needed funds for our work as well. We are extremely grateful to all the Chadwicks team and want to thank them for the difference they continue to make’.
Details of other projects will be announced in the coming months. For more information on today’s announcements, visit chadwicks.ie or go to www.iwa.ie to make a donation.
