Today is World Down Syndrome Day, and we’re celebrating an amazing partnership with our friends at Stand Out Socks.
To give you a bit of background, Stand Out Socks is an organisation which sells – you guessed it – socks. But with a difference. Founders Christian, Ross and Natalie employ people with learning disabilities. They sell funky and colourful socks to:
- Raise awareness of disability inclusion
- Donate a share of profits to disability charities
- Create jobs for people with learning difficulties
As they say:
We don’t just sell socks!!! We’re in the business of making a difference!!!
Project Empowerment
Stand Out's successful appearance on Dragon’s Den gave them a thirst to share their entrepreneurial nous, which led to Project Empowerment. And that's where Victoria comes in – more on her in a minute!
To mark World Down Syndrome Day, Stand Out Socks put out a call for budding entrepreneurs. The idea? The winning entries would each receive 100 pairs of socks for free, to sell onwards and raise awareness.
This was a perfect fit with MacIntyre’s ambition to support people into employment. And, as part of our Everyone Everywhere idea, to make connections along the way.
Victoria's story
When Victoria from Milton Keynes heard about Project Empowerment, she was on it like a shot. This is what she said when she applied:
Hiya, my name is Victoria,
Through attending Macintyre Lifelong Learning on a Friday, I heard about this fantastic opportunity.
I love shopping, reading, watching TV and I am a complete movie buff! I am a big Potter Head with lots of Harry Potter memorabilia.
This opportunity will enable me to integrate into the wider community leading to new social encounters such as having a stall at various local community events.
As well as making money, hopefully through engaging with different people, this will lead to recognition of different charities who work/support adults with disabilities.
I love socks the more colourful the better and I had the brilliant idea to make the socks to sell look like cupcakes!
I am going to use the money to re-invest with the other guys who attend Macintyre with me – we want to make tie-dye t-shirts, baby grows and even socks(!) to sell and start our own business.
I would also love to go to Warrington and meet Ross and the Stand Out Socks team!
I think this will be a WAND-a full opportunity.
You can imagine how delighted Victoria was when she heard she was one of the winners. Here’s a video of her opening her box of socks. She can't get that packing tape off fast enough!
