The Blue Dragonfly Foundation, Inc. | Mount Tabor

August 2026

About the Project

The Blue Dragonfly Foundation provides vocational training and supported employment for autistic young
people and adults in Antigua and Barbuda. Our vocational training programs accept autistic people of all
abilities. Each person has a training program designed specifically for them, with goals set to their own starting
point, and we work with them to meet those goals and improve both their working and their life skills. Those
who are unable to transition into mainstream employment remain employed by the Foundation’s own social
enterprises.

The Foundation is now building an integrated site at Mount Tabor. It brings together four things under one roof:
a Learning Center and classroom, a Sensory Room, Friendship Farm (a hydroponic growing project), and The
Canopy, a restaurant and hospitality training center. Completing the picture, the Blue Dragonfly Thrift & Gift
Store, which runs as a social enterprise, is relocating to brand new premises in early November. The larger space
will allow us to expand what we offer, take in more trainees, and transition them into jobs in the community.
Every item on this list goes directly into a space where autistic young people will learn a trade, earn a wage, and
be part of their community.
Our Priority: Completing the Learning Center
The Halo Foundation has already contributed an interactive whiteboard to our classroom, for which we are very
grateful. The Learning Center is the room every participant passes through before moving on to the farm, the
restaurant, or the store, and it is the closest to being finished.
The room doubles as our sensory space, and the sensory side is already equipped — we have a bubble tube with
mirrors, an activity board, and a pattern projector in place. What the room still lacks is furniture. At present it
contains one table and three chairs and cannot yet run a full session.
Completing this room, and equipping a small office alongside it, is where community support would make the
most immediate difference. Everything needed is available from businesses here on the island.
Our hydroponic farm equipment is being funded separately and is not part of this appeal.

Ten Things That Would Help Most

If a business or individual wants to give one thing, these are the ten that make the biggest immediate difference:

The Full Wish List

1. Learning Center and Sensory Room (one combined room)

We currently have one table and three chairs. Everything below is needed

• Blackout blinds — essential, because the same room serves as both classroom and sensory space, and light
control is what allows it to switch between teaching and quiet regulation within a session

• Folding tables, rectangular and wipe-clean — up to 6
• Stacking chairs — up to 20
• Teacher’s desk and office chair
• Lockable storage cupboards and shelving units
• Bookcases
• Pinboards and wall-mounted visual schedule boards
• Books for our library — picture books, easy readers, teen and young adult fiction, life skills, cookery,
gardening, and books about autism for families
• Printer and laminator, plus laminating pouches (we produce picture-based task guides continuously, and
laminating them in-house saves reprinting)
• Stationery: paper, card, folders, markers, pens, scissors, glue
• Wall clock and a small refrigerator for the classroom

2. Office and Administration (a room in the cottage)

We have identified a room in the cottage at Mount Tabor to serve as the Foundation’s office. It needs equipping from empty,
and secure storage is a genuine requirement — participant records and safeguarding files need lockable cupboards and
cabinets.
• Desks — up to 3
• Office chairs — up to 4
• Filing cabinets and shelving
• Working laptops or tablets (any recent working machine, with a clean wipe)
• Printer/scanner and ink
• Wi-Fi router or range extender
• A small lockable safe