Kids+ seek support for scholarships

KIDS+ has announced Jake Richardson as the inaugural recipient of its Education and Employment Scholarship.

The scholarship program aims to financially support Kids+ participants as they transition to education or employment opportunities after completing their secondary school education.

Scholarships are valued at up to $2,500 annually for up to four years.

Income for the scholarships is generated from an investment corpus that Kids+ hopes to grow over time with community support. “Kids+ often has a long association with the young people attending Kids+ and their families,” Kids+ chief executive officer Shaun Cannon said.

“In addition to supporting their therapy needs, if we can, in a small way, encourage and promote pathways into education and employment as they transition into adulthood, we believe that brings many positives to the young person and the broader community.

“We are thrilled that Jake, who has been coming to Kids+ since 2016, is the scholarship program’s first recipient.”

Jake was born 12 weeks premature with complications including multiple brain bleeds, which led to several surgeries.

When the time came for Jake to leave high school, the family was unsure of the next stage of Jake’s life until Bellarine High School, where Jake was a student, was suggested as a potential employment placement opportunity.

The school, local disability employment support agencies, and support co-ordinators were able to create and offer Jake a 12-month funded employment position at the school, with the Kids+ scholarship providing half of the funding required for the role to be approved.

“Thanks to Kids+ Jake received a scholarship to continue with his endeavour of creating a pathway of independence and achievement that I can only see as the next level of Jake’s ‘wow, look at how far you’ve come’ factor,” Jake’s mother Jaime said.

“From my perspective and as his mother, that’s all I want to see, my boy who is now a young man, can have a fulfilling life and purpose that doesn’t need to be placed into just one basket labelled ‘disabled’ or ‘special needs’, because he’s more than that in my eyes.

“He is my inspiration.”

Kids+ director Peter Burke contributed to the investment corpus with support from Burke Britton Financial Planners and the Future Generation investment group.

“Our target is to provide around 10 scholarships annually for Kids+ participants,” Mr Burke said.

“We are ambitiously striving to raise $500,000 within the next few years. We are already over halfway to our target.

“In sharing stories such as Jake’s, we are reaching out to our local community in the hope that it will motivate donations to our scholarship fund to support more young people with disabilities in realizing their educational or employment dreams.”

For more information on the Kids+ scholarship, head to kidsplus.org.au/scholarship