From the dreams of one mother’s experience raising her son with non-verbal autism, Wendy Cherry and her team at Unique Directions have gone in leaps and bounds, building independence for their participants in every aspect of life.
With the recent acquisition of the land next door, Unique Directions are giving their participants the opportunity to grow a green hand.
The block had been vacant for a long time and after a search, Unique Directions learned that Queensland Police owned the block, and after some consultation, Unique Directions were offered the lease as long as they continue to provide “accessible and meaningful opportunities for people with disabilities in Mackay.”
The extremely generous lease is $1 dollar per year.
Now, Unique Directions have added another feather to their growing cap of activities, allowing their participants to experience a full range of what independent life has to offer and more – cooking, dance, crafts, and now gardening.
“Wendy’s vision is to have raised garden beds for accessibility, shipping containers with a shelter over the top for shade, a ride on mower, a plant potting station and a vision for several different gardens – herbs, vegetables, flowers,” Mates Manager Damian Watson said.
“It gives people a cross section of what gardening is about and the opportunity to have another different type of ecosystem here.
“We want to put a pizza out there as well with our cooking session, so the cooking class can pick some herbs, make the dough and it’s going to be fantastic.
Damian said that it will be much like the paddock to plate philosophy, illustrating a complete experience for participants.
“The other thing is, we’ll have chickens in there and people will understand that eggs don’t come from a carton, for those who don’t know that,” Damian said.
“Wendy has a massive vision.”
Wendy entered the disability support landscape after her own experiences with her son, Thomas, and wanted to build a better supported living solution that would allow him to maintain the same quality of life, even when she is no longer able to help him.
Damian looks after the logistics of Mates Place and said that he was the practical one and that Wendy was the dreamer, but that this dream was something he was so glad to see fulfilled.
“If she could, she’d have cows in there, to give people the opportunity to experience it,” Damian said.
“The benefits are massive and it’s another facet – we hope people will go over there for lunch and our photography group, for example, goes over there and takes photos.
“We’re about a holistic approach at Our Mates Place.”
The site is being worked on now, and Unique Directions hopes that by June it will be functioning well and look vastly different from what it does now.
Wendy Cherry stands in front of the new gardening space at Unique Directions
Damian Watson in the block set to become Unique Directions new gardening space
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