There’s a ‘sense of belonging, fun, possibility, and excitement’ in Cork’s Field of Dreams

The Curraheen charity has evolved to not only serve training courses for adults getting ready to join the workforce, it also tends to the needs of children too, writes Imasha Costa

Clodagh Robins practises her barista skills at the Field of Dreams as she celebrates her 22nd birthday. Pictures: Chani Anderson

In a classroom nestled away in the outskirts of Cork City are students with Down syndrome, all of whom are eager to upskill and move into employment.

The Field of Dreams in Curraheen was established by a group of parents, under the guidance of Down Syndrome Cork, in 2017.

The three-acre horticultural site had initially been set up to provide learning opportunities for adults with Down syndrome.

The site has since evolved to not only serve training courses for adults, but to tend to the needs of children as well.

The chairperson of Down Syndrome Cork, Tara Casserly, said the Field of Dreams is a place where all children want to go.

The site hosts a commercial-grade kitchen where cooking classes take place, three polytunnels to grow fruit and vegetables, a sensory garden, a remembrance garden, an orchard, and a care farm for sheep and chickens.

Planning permission has also been sought to build an additional cabin to host two on-site therapy rooms.

Ms Casserly said the charity relies on endless fundraising and volunteer work, which allows it to be self-sufficient and provide essential services to children and adults with Down syndrome.

The site also provides essential training for adults looking to go into the workplace.

Some €200,000 is needed every year to support the work of Field of Dreams.

“As soon as any of our kids comes through here, there is just such a sense of belonging, a sense of fun, possibility, and excitement,” Ms Casserly told the Irish Examiner.

“When my son Cian was born, and when you have a child with special needs, unlike other children, you go immediately to 20 years down the line.

“I had two typically developing children, and all I thought about was feeding and changing them. But when you have a child with special needs, you immediately catapult yourself to 20,25, 30 years down the line,” she said.

Turning the tables

Parents of children with disabilities naturally worry more about what will happen in the future, whether their children will ever go to work and, if so, will they find work and a meaningful focus in their life.

“Sadly, in Ireland, often parents have to make that happen for themselves. What the Field of Dreams is for me, and for a lot of other families, is hope,” Ms Casserly said.

“Usually, across the world, the unemployment rates for people with Down syndrome are astronomical. The unemployment rates are in the region of 90%.

“Here in Down Syndrome Cork, we have turned that around on its head. We have a ready-to-work programme, we have a bright futures programme, and our success rate coming out of those programmes is in the region of 90%. We have completely turned it on its head,” she added.

Among those using the services is Gerald Oakes, who described the Field of Dreams as a place of constant learning.

“I want to keep learning new skills while I’m able to do it,” Mr Oakes added.

An avid rugby fan, he loves anything that has to do with physical exercise and moving around.

He has done eight half marathons, and he is currently training to run his first full marathon.

“I’m always here, they cannot get rid of me even if they tried,” Mr Oakes joked.

Adam O’Callaghan, 22, loves being able to learn how to access technology properly.

“It is really helping me get into the workforce,” he said.

An avid rugby fan, 51-year-old Ger Oakes says he wants to ‘keep learning new skills’.

“It is now setting me up for my work placement with Penneys, which I am absolutely excited about.

Ms Casserly said learning for a small child, “especially a child with special needs,” is a lot of their life.

“Learning about your play and about your environment ... isn’t it fantastic to take a stroll through the Field of Dreams, go down and talk to our chickens, maybe learn [in your] speech and language therapy about what the chickens are doing that day,” she added.

“Maybe go look at our berries that are growing, go and look at our vegetables that are growing, go and look at the flowers that are coming through the garden.

“Learning can happen in that environment, and because we are building the therapy rooms here, we’re going to make that happen.”

For one Cork mum, Cara Steinmetz, she hopes the Field of Dreams will be an option in the future for her 14-year-old son, Noah.

“It will be when he is at that age when he would want to use it. We are fundraising endlessly to keep things going,” Ms Steinmetz said.

Seán McMahon, who loves the technology lessons, smiles as he looks forward to his upcoming work experience with Penneys.

The Field of Dreams also receives funding from Apple, which includes the tech company giving a donation to the organisation for every hour that an employee volunteers.

Ms Steinmetz said Down Syndrome Cork brings a sense of community, adding that that every donation helps to make the “future a little bit more likely”.

“It is just so meaningful for all of the members who use this facility, as well as our shop and every other area of Down Syndrome Cork,” she said.

“But I would also say that one of the most important things is all of these young people who are building careers at Apple are coming out and meeting our members, and they are seeing people with Down syndrome, and they can see their ability, they can see the contribution to the community.

“These are our future employers, and future people in our workplace.

“I think that is really crucial.”

Looking to the future

“My son is now in his second year in Scoil Bernadette, so right now he’s just focused on staying there,” Ms Casserly said.

“But when he was leaving primary school, he had to write his future self-diary, and he wrote: ‘When I am older, I want to go to the Field of Dreams every week. But I will take Tuesdays off.’

“The Field of Dreams is very much in his future.

“If you’re asking me where I look now, I am very confident that my son will have a meaningful work life and that he will just be like his two brothers.

“He will have a job that he can go to, and I have every confidence that he will be very successful in that job.”

However, as a mum, she still looks 20 years ahead, where her son is “further into adulthood”.

Tara Casserly said the charity relies on endless fundraising and volunteer work, allowing it to be self-sufficient.

“Who will mind my son when I’m not here, when my husband is not here? As parents, we just push those long-term worries down the road a little bit,” Ms Casserly said.

“We need a reasonable, independent living solution, and that is actually a tsunami that is coming down the line for Irish society.

“There isn’t actually a solution there at all for the many, many children — not just children with Down syndrome, but any child with special needs.

“Unfortunately, yes, the Field of Dreams has solved one problem for me.

“But, as a parent, you realise as you go further down the line, there are other things to worry about.”

High praise

A former adviser in the administration of US president Barack Obama has praised staff at Apple’s Cork campus for their work with local communities.

Alisha Johnson Wilder was visiting Cork City in her role as senior director for environment, policy, and social initiatives at Apple.

She said volunteering and assisting within the community has always been the “North Star” for the tech company’s employees.

The former White House staffer previously worked as the deputy communications director for the US Environmental Protection Agency and senior adviser at the US state department.

Firm friends Adam O’Callaghan and Katie Sheerin are preparing for the workforce through the programmes.

For Ms Johnson Wilder, Apple’s contribution to supporting the charity through volunteers and funding is crucial and something it “really prioritises as a company”.

“Our employees are so passionate about the places that they work and the places they live in,” Ms Johnson Wilder said.

“When we have opportunities like this to support organisations that are doing on-the-ground tangible work, it really has an impact.”

With fundraising being a year-round effort for the Field of Dreams, the charity recently celebrated its first gala ahead of World Down Syndrome Day on Saturday, March 21.