Wheelchair Fund

The thing about giving to good causes is that there are so many good causes out there to give to. One that I've recently heard about that I'm very keen to support is a wheelchair fund. Friends of the organiser and her husband are related to a nine year boy named Will who has cerebral palsy. He can't walk unaided and has just about grown out of his current wheelchair. He will need two new wheelchairs, a manual and an electric one, both custom made. "Will really needs a new wheelchair not only for his own independence but also because he is growing up and becoming too heavy for [his mother] to life and carry. A wheelchair that will seem him through his teens costs about $10 000."

The organiser and her husband wanted to help out so they decided to forego giving Christmas gifts to each other and instead give the money they would have spent on each other to Will's parents to help out with the cost of the wheelchair. They were also going to ask each child to forego one Christmas present and give that money to towards a wheelchair instead. Apart from the cost of wheelchairs, the boy's general healthcare is also exteremly expensive and includes therapy that they can't claim through Medicare or private health cover.

The wheelchair fund now has its own bank account. Their goal is to "..raise the first $5000 before Christmas so that [Will's mother] can order the electric wheelchair as soon as possible (it takes a few months to buil/deliver)."

I think this is great idea. I have already committed $470 from this quarter's 10% Fund but anything over this amount will go to this cause. If anyone is interested, email me at matrixrainy@hotmail.com and I'll pass the organiser's contact details to you - as you can appreciate, I'm hestitant to post names and her phone numbers across the internet!

I'm absolutely exhausted from a full on week. I've probably spent a total of three hours at home awake this week - the rest of the time I've been asleep, at work or helping out with the dance concert. That's all over for another year however and I can now lay back and relax...well not really since tonight's Rotaract! I'm working from Chelmer tonight (the home office as opposed to the big office) so I'll chill here until it's time to leave. Stop by home for minute to put some jeans on (I'm wearing shorts) and worry about tidying up when I get back. There's not much to do and hopefully I'll get enough sleep so I have energy to attack the piles of stuff on the dining table tomorrow before work!

-- So I told Peter about the wheelchair fund, just as an interesting anecdote not attempting to solicit a donation off and the first thing he said was "I'm keen to help out with that". His generosity and caring nature are two things (of many!) that I love about him. He doesn't have a planned giving approach - no surprise as he isn't one for lists, plans and detail; he is the opposite to me - but if someone asks for money for a cause he will put hand in wallet and hand over the cash be it cancer research, surf life saving, a school raffle, a collection for the Salvos or a wheelchair for some little boy. I am so lucky to have him in my life...one more sleep until he's home!