
The government recently cut its funding to the programme, meaning it had to be suspended this month.
It left Cargill Enterprises chief executive officer Geoff Kemp "heartbroken" because it meant he would be unable to give people with physical and intellectual disabilities more independence, by improving their numeracy and literacy, and teaching them about the digital world.
The programme is part of their employment at Cargill Enterprises, where they also get on-the-job training that gives them the skills needed to perform various work tasks, operate machinery, complete workplace paperwork, maintain time management and follow health and safety practices.
Since announcing the funding cut on Tuesday, Mr Kemp said five people had pledged a total of $10,000 towards getting the academy up and running again.
He was delighted with the support and hoped more people would make pledges in the coming weeks.
Cargill Enterprises was a registered tertiary education organisation and contracted two tutors to run the highly successful programme.
Between $80,000 and $90,000 a year was needed to keep the academy running.
"We’ve put together a pledge document so that we can ask people to make a pledge to us, and then if we get enough to run the academy again, we’ll call the pledges in.
"It’s given us a lot of hope that we can get the academy going again before the end of the year — most definitely.
"What I’m hoping is that Dunedin says, ‘we own what happens at Cargill Enterprises and in the disabled community’.
"Disabled people are part of our community — they’re part of the fabric of our society — and in my view, everybody has to have a stake in caring for people that are disenfranchised.
"I don’t believe it’s a utopist view. I think it’s a duty that we all have."
Twenty-two people graduated from their training at Cargill Academy on Monday night and many of the graduates had learnt skills that would lead to increased options and freedom in their lives, including permanent employment in the open workforce.
"It’s changed so many lives. It lifts heads, it builds confidence, it gives access to areas in their lives that they never had access to before.
"Without the independence that this programme gives them, they would cost the taxpayer more."