I am writing to support the work of The Buzz in our local Nelson community. The Buzz supports young people with intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 16 – 30 years prepare for work by providing skills-based programmes and community networking opportunities. This is important to our family because our son, Sam, has ASD and he faced challenges moving into work when he left school. Sam had high anxiety, social anxiety, low self confidence and difficulty staying on task.

Sam attended The Buzz regularly for nearly two years, from February 2021 to December 2022, starting when he was nineteen years old. At the Buzz, Sam was supported and encouraged. He learned to work as a team with the other young people attending, following instructions as they worked together on tasks for the Food Bank and Restore. He was supported in learning how to catch the bus independently, and he achieved a first aid certificate through The Buzz.

Also, through The Buzz, Sam gained real work experience at Nook Café, one morning per week. Initially, he found this challenging, but with patient guidance, he gained much confidence, and learned new skills such as making coffees, baking, serving customers and cleaning, plus time management skills and using initiative.

Attending The Buzz and work experience at Nook Café regularly not only gave Sam new skills, it also provided him with much needed routine, sense of purpose and social contact, and was the highlight of his week.

One of Sam’s passions is drawing, and the team at The Buzz suggested he used his artistic abilities to design greeting cards, which he did, and sold through The Buzz, Nook Café and two local retail outlets. His cards sold well and Sam’s confidence grew.

The Buzz also found Sam the opportunity to design Logos for two businesses, which he did successfully, and he was helped to make invoices for these, too. The logos are on the business’s websites, signs, and business cards. Sam’s confidence continued to grow along with a sense of achievement.

Sam left The Buzz and Nook Café when he gained employment (the café manager was a referee for him). He had two part-time cleaning jobs, twenty-two hours in total per week; and used many of the skills he had learned at The Buzz.

He continued working, and making cards and drawing for pleasure at home, and dreamed of doing an animation course, his dream since school.

With the encouragement of his brother, Sam applied to do a six-month course, Certificate in Creative Media. As he did not have the educational requirements for the course, he needed to submit a portfolio. The greeting cards and logos he designed while at The Buzz formed a large part of his portfolio, and he was accepted into the course.

Sam has moved to Christchurch where he lives with his brother, and busses to and from Yoobee College daily. He passed the Certificate course, and is currently doing a one-year Level 5 Diploma in Animation, which he loves. He still has some challenges due to his ASD, but he has so much more confidence in his ability to cope now.

I cannot imagine how Sam could have achieved all that he has without the skills he learned, and the support, encouragement, and opportunities he was given, and the confidence he gained through the work of the wonderful, dedicated team at The Buzz.

We support The Buzz because we would like to see other young people with disabilities have the opportunity to grow their work skills in the way our son has.

Yours sincerely,
Helen and David