Raushan Ara, Labour KCC candidate and local restaurant owner recently held a lunch on International Women’s Day to raise funds for the charity’s children and youth department of East Kent Mencap.   Raushan’s own teenage son has a learning disability and uses East Kent Mencap’s services.

The East Kent Mencap’s Women’s Group offers a safe discussion forum for women with a learning disability.  Coming together in the group, members are able to discuss a range of issues that are important to them.  At the International Women’s Day lunch, members of the group came to speak to other participants at the event.  They spoke about working with the local domestic violence and abuse service, Oasis, to produce an easy-to-read leaflet about domestic violence.

Raushan said: “I organise this lunch every year for International Women’s Day. Since my son started using East Kent Mencap’s services, I’ve wanted to support them in some way and this year’s event seemed a good way to celebrate being a mother and help other parents. Many thanks to everyone who came along on the day and very generously donated raffle prizes.”

Find more about East Kent Mencap at www.eastkentmencap.co.uk.

Find out more about the work of Oasis at http://www.oasisdaservice.org/