This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.
I can remember being pregnant with our fifth child and wondering had we pushed our luck too far? We already had 4 healthy and fully able kids, would we have the same luck again? When our beautiful son came along, he too was healthy and fully able.
This isn’t the case for all families. In Australia, 1 in 14 children are living with a disability. This makes 1 in 14 families who are living with a disability. When a child has a disability the whole family is affected, mum, dad, siblings and even broader family. It is important for families to receive support themselves so they can continue to care for their child to the best of their ability.
It can also be very expensive looking after a child with a disability. Since its inception in February 2008 the Westfield Community Program has provided support to children with disabilities and their families. They do this through providing funds for therapy equipment, respite, early intervention and education programs. Westfield has taken a local approach to this Community Program and each centre across Australia has a close partnership with a local children’s disability service provider in their local area.
On Saturday 21 May Westfield are having their inaugural Give Ability Day. It is a major national fundraising event across all Westfield shopping centres. 100% of all donations collected on the day will provide much needed funds for local children’s disability service providers in the community.
Give Ability focuses on what we can all do to help enable children with disabilities and their families. We all have ‘give ability’ – the ability to donate what we can to help give the ability for kids to take part in fun activities, for respite care so parents and carers can take a break too, or for new programs and facilities to be set up.
What Happens on Westfield Give Ability Day?
On Give Ability Day, staff and volunteers will be at every Westfield centre to accept donations for their local children’s disability service provider. Each Westfield Centre will be supporting a different local charity and they will have different activities like raffles, etc to try to raise as much money as possible for their local charity.
You can find out more about what your local Westfield centre will be doing and what local children’s disability service providers they support by going to the Westfield website.
I will be going to my local Westfield shopping centre at Doncaster. They are supporting Scope (formerly known as Spastic Children’s Society of Victoria). Scope is one of the largest providers of services to people with a disability in Victoria, and one of the largest not-for-profit organisations in Australia. They actively support people with a disability with services including areas therapy and psychology, home and respite, day and lifestyles and employment services.
Make sure you put Saturday May 21 in your diary and head out to your Westfield centre and use your ability to give.