Made It, Sold It, Earned It: Inside Our Warragul Life Skills Market Day
This one started with an idea. What if our crew made things, sold them, and used the money for something fun together?
So that's exactly what we did in our weekly Warragul life skills program. And it turned into one of our favourite projects yet.
Making the goods
First, the crew got busy making stuff to sell. Tshirts, art, and a whole range of handmade crafts. Everyone got stuck in, putting their own spin on things and taking real pride in what they created.
But this wasn't just arts and crafts for the fun of it. There were real skills happening here. Planning what to make. Working out what people might actually want to buy. Creating something to a standard you'd be happy to sell. And doing it as a team, everyone pulling together towards the same goal.
Market day
Then came the big one. Market day.
The crew set up their stall and sold everything they'd made to the public. And this is where the real growth happened. Talking to customers. Explaining their products. Handling money and giving change. Putting themselves out there, which takes guts.
For some of the crew, chatting to strangers and making a sale was a big step outside the comfort zone. But they did it. And watching them grow in confidence with every sale was something special. By the end of the day they were proper little salespeople, and the buzz when they saw how much they'd made together was unreal.
The payoff
Here's the best part. All that money they earned? They pooled it together. Every dollar, into one pot. And then they decided as a group how to spend it.
The verdict: a massive day out at Jump and Climb.
So that's where all the hard work led. A whole day of jumping, climbing, and going flat out, paid for entirely by the crew themselves. Money they'd earned with their own hands, their own ideas, and their own effort. There's something pretty special about a fun day that you've earned together. It just hits different.
Why it matters
This is what our group life skills program is really about. Not skills learned from a worksheet, but real ones, picked up by actually doing.
Look at everything packed into this one project. Creativity. Planning. Teamwork. Talking to people. Handling money. Setting a goal and working towards it together. And then the reward of seeing it all pay off. You can't teach that in a classroom. You learn it by making a tshirt, selling it to a stranger, and high fiving your mates at Jump and Climb afterwards.
That's group life skills for adults with disabilities the TDAC way. Real skills, real fun, real mates. It's all part of our NDIS life skills program across Victoria, building independence through life skills that actually stick, because they're learned by doing.
If you want to be part of a life skills program that actually feels like an adventure, come join the crew. Give us a call on 1800 319 581 or email hello@tdacvic.com.
Because the best lessons never feel like lessons at all.
