Support for charities | 5 things you should know about Zetetick’s gift to Club Soda

Support for charities | Zetetick gives Club Soda a financial tonic

#giveback #arts

As a registered charity, Zetetick believes in charitable giving. Our purpose is to provide supported living housing for adults with disabilities, learning disabilities and autism so that they can lead valuable lives as important members of their local communities. However as a successful charity Zetetick also aims to increase the number of people who can benefit from our activities, and one way of doing this is to provide support for charities and other organisations with similar values and aims where we can.

As well as housing, Zetetick believes that arts and leisure activities are vitally important for encouraging social inclusion, as well as improving health and wellbeing. We are therefore delighted that we have been able to giveback to Club Soda in Croydon, an area where Zetetick has many tenants. Zetetick’s Director of Housing, Judith Chambers, The Zetetick Staff Team | Supported Living presented them with a giant cheque earlier this month.

Club Soda

Club Soda was formed in 2009 with the help of Croydon Council and is now a registered charity. They provide spaces for people with learning disabilities in and around Croydon to be social and creative – from putting on club nights, gigs and open mic evenings in different venues in the area, to running workshops for new and emerging musicians and DJs. Club Soda aims to produce new and original art, by working with musicians, DJs, actors, film-makers, fine artists, photographers and others.

Olly Tipper, director of Club Soda, said

“We are chuffed to bits that Zetetick has chosen to support Club Soda. The funding grant we receive will be spent on developing our Leisure Link project to include a monthly newslettter and podcast. The Leisure Link project enables adults with learning disabilities to share their experiences of arts and leisure in Croydon and beyond.”

Find out more about Club Soda here: https://www.clubsoda.org.uk/

Leisure Link

Cub Soda’s Leisure Link is a group for people with learning disabilities and supporters who meet once a month to talk about arts and leisure: things they have done and things they are looking forward to.

Members produce a monthly newsletter about what’s going on in Croydon that is inclusive and accessible. It includes news, members’ reviews of books, films, and music, information about health and wellbeing activities, information about Soda Crew and Soda Jam (their DJ and music workshops), links to inclusive arts groups and a directory of accessible and inclusive venues, regular events and services.

Changing perceptions

Jonathan Spencer, Zetetick’s Deputy CEO, said

Like Zetetick, Club Soda wants to change perceptions about people with learning disabilities and promote inclusion in all areas of society. We were so impressed with the work Club Soda is doing and were pleased to be able to giveback to them as part of our support for charities objective."

Support for charities – community spirit

Being providers of best practice supported living means that Zetetick is used to working collaboratively with partners in different areas, but we also want to foster a wider community spirit and provide support for charities and organisations in our field where we can, as well as ask for support in return. This is especially important now as we all deal with the difficult and changing circumstances of Covid-19.

People with learning disabilities have borne the brunt of the pandemic, dealing with inequalities in healthcare and support, and even fighting for vaccines. By working together in a spirit of cooperation and mutual aid we help each other to achieve our common goals – to empower and support people with learning disabilities to live the best lives they possibly can.

Find out more about Zetetick, our values and what we do here:

Our Story | Zetetick Housing | Supported Living

Our Values | Zetetick | Supported Housing