I found your email address on the Lions website and I thought
that you may also like to receive updates about how Jack is
doing (I am sending them to Graham Munday as well) I hope that
you are doing well and realise the depth of our appreciation to
the work you and your colleges do.
Cheers
Marianne Braunack
Dear
Graham, (You are most welcome to share this email with your
members)
Jack is doing very well. He is getting about so well with his
walker and he makes sure it works hard. He loves pretending to
be a tow truck chaining the broken down trucks to the back of
his walker.
He has also
found that lamb bottles sit quite well between the back rails,
so he is pleased to be able to carry the bottles down to feed
the pet lambs. He can rest a biscuit of hay on the back and if
he walks slowly and steady (so it doesn’t fall off) he can take
it to the lamb yards and throw it over the fence. Not
surprisingly he can get pretty fast and he wants to find some
other kids to have walker races with! We are so happy watching
him adapt and work around problems he faces.
Jack had botox injections in his legs about 6 weeks ago and at
the moment he is in plasters. This is to get his muscles to
their maximum movement range whilst they are relaxed from the
botox. These go from under his knees over his feet, holding them
at right angles. He gets to choose the colour so this week he
has red legs! (Unfortunately the shoes he has to wear covers the
effect in the photo!) The plasters get changed every week, and
last week he had one blue and one red. Hopefully next week will
be the last week, because he doesn’t like not being allowed to
go through puddles or playing in the sandpit. There is a bike
track at the Tanunda Kindy, where the other kids ride the bikes.
Jack tears around it with his walker chasing down all the other
kids and having races! It is great to see, he gets quite
competitive cutting the other kids off and pulling out all the
stops trying to win. He has made some fabulous friends at Kindy
as is looking forward to being a big boy of 5 soon and going to
school. He starts Term 4 this year and he is very excited!
We wish the Lions Club all our best and we will keep in touch!
Cheers
Marianne,
Nathan, Jack & Aiden
The latest
figures out show that C1 has funded a total of 163 walkers to the amount of
$430,802.
What a
magnificent effort, especially when you consider that Australia-wide the number
is1,111 with the dollar amount standing at around $7,000,000. Give yourselves a
pat on the back, we are travelling extremely well, and so are the lucky children
who now have the benefit of a fuller life.
Many clubs are
appointing a Liaison Officer, which is a very useful and streamlined way
initially to discover when a mobility device is to be fitted. Novita will deal
only with the family, which makes perfect sense as they are the ones receiving
the equipment. From that point the Officer can keep up with the child’s progress
and report back to the club accordingly. My Walker Procedure may be useful.
Once fitted,
consider inviting the family to an official presentation night so
that all members can see just what their hard-earned dollars have and are
achieving for the family, both physically and emotionally. If you are feeling
brave, you could even ask your child to choose the dessert as one club does!
Continue the
relationship by sending a birthday card and remembering the family at Christmas by inviting them to your celebration and/or with a card. Continue
seeking publicity at every opportunity. Keep the family in mind when you have a
special meeting, such as Youth of the Year or a community fundraiser, and invite
them along. Send out a multi-media release. In that
way the general [local and wider] community will be able to see face to face
just where their donations are going, and more importantly, what they are
achieving, it might even get you a new member or two!
With regard to
contacting the media, I have recently updated the 2 pro formas that are
available on the National Mobility web site so make use of them as a
guide. Send a letter to the editor. I tried that in late 2007 and it took three
goes but I made it, so be persistent.
Recognition from
Novita is progressing steadily with our SA Trustee and myself making certain
that we stay to the forefront of their thinking in various ways. Old entrenched
habits and thinking are not easily changed and this is all too familiar in the
progress of our own wonderful organisation too. Rest assured that our efforts
are ongoing, persistent and consistent.
I recently heard
someone remark that whilst they had felt fundraising would benefit
recipient/s, [which of course it does] they hadn’t realised the immense
fulfilment that they experienced. That, for me, sums up Lionism. That
very act of giving, as with ripples on water, can spread and achieve so much
long-lasting good. Far greater than the transient official recognition an
organisation might give.
Another project,
that has so far raised nearly $5,000, is to ‘complete’ Fremont Park
playground by installing two multi-use swings and funding shading that is
now protecting the recently installed Liberty Swing – for disabled use only. I
will continue to source the amount outstanding for this great project. Do have a
look next time you’re passing, as the playground is quite unique in Australia.
Our WA Trustee was so impressed when I shared pictures in January ‘07 that he
has approached a WA Council and a similar recreation area will very likely be
erected in the very near future.
If your club has
not had the opportunity to experience the joy of assisting a child [to the age
of 18] into a mobility device in your area, but would like to, please let me
know. There are varying costs to these devices, and monetarily assisting a
child outside your area may make a huge difference as to just how quickly we can
get a child more independent. If in the country, you could get to know the
family by offering home hosting as a short break. IMMOBILITY KNOWS NO
BOUNDARIES!
And please
remember, that with a mutually agreeable date, I always enjoy spreading the word
anywhere in the district. So please add me to your speaker list for a club or
zone meeting.
I have been to
Highbury, Port Lincoln for a Region Meeting, a Zone Meeting in Ardrossan and
Gawler. January 27th will see me in Mallala and 30th April
at a Zone Meeting in the Southern Area, so far.
