Laraine |
When I first met my husband he felt he had to inform me that he got blisters. My reaction, doesn’t everyone? Little did I know that those blisters would become such an important part of my life. We were living in the States when DEBRA was being formed over there, so we were involved in the initial group in Washington DC. But unbeknown to me, when we returned to Australia, our daughter, Karen was involved with a support group in Adelaide, and apparently when they decided to form a committee, they didn’t have a Treasurer, so Karen informed them “my Mum loves working with money, so she will do it”. Thinking I would only be receipting annual memberships I accepted, how naïve was I?
I have now been involved since 1979 and do not regret one minute of the time working as a volunteer for DEBRA, whether it has been doing Presentations, organising a Carnival, helping at Conferences and being a contact person for the families with EB, oh yes and as Treasurer! It has been challenging, but so rewarding, as our wonderful EB members go through so much, but I have never heard anyone complain. They are a blessing to work with and so grateful for all we do. As we close DEBRA SA while I was honoured to receive the Volunteer of the Year award for Makin my proudest achievements were contacting the wonderful Little Heroes Foundation who are now assisting not only SA families but there is support around Australia and also being involved with the Kate “Focus on Ability” video which has gone around the world.