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C1 Chairman - Vaal Dix
 

Vaal Dix

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.