Chester charity for disabled people wins funding from NHS Western Cheshire

Feb 17 2011 Chester Chronicle

A FORWARD-thinking Chester charity that provides a range of services for disabled people in the heart of the city has won funding from NHS Western Cheshire.

DIAL House Chester is a registered charity providing a range of services for people with disabilities.

It is staffed, in the main, by more than 60 volunteers and more than 70% of the workforce has a disability or health condition.

It provides a range of services including:

A community café - serving healthy, homemade food at affordable prices and offering an external catering/buffet service.

Advice and information, focussing on welfare benefits and upholding the rights of disabled people.

Shopmobility – daily providing the use of mobility scooters and wheelchairs to enable people to take full advantage of city centre shops and facilities.

A volunteer scheme - developing the skills of people from the community to help others within the community including opportunities for training and development.

The chairman of NHS Western Cheshire has a discretionary fund that he is using to support voluntary organisations who can demonstrate they have a creative approach to promoting health and well being.

Crucially, successful organisations who bid for support must show how they would use the funding to secure a more sustainable future.

DIAL has received £950 to buy a bigger chilled display cabinet and other kitchen equipment for the community café, doubling DIAL's capacity to generate income by catering for outside organisations and £900 for DVD production and editing equipment to produce bespoke marketing material to both promote the outside catering services and to raise DIAL's profile in the local community.

Dial House will also assist other voluntary organisations to market themselves.

General manager Keith Roper said he was delighted to receive the funding from NHS Western Cheshire.

“All charities now operate in a competitive business environment and we are no exception.

“We cannot afford to stand still and we know that, to survive, we must come up with new ways of generating income and spreading the word within the community about what we can offer.”