'CONNECT NEWS' - NO. 20

DIRECTORS KŌRERO

Kia ora e te whānau.
 
I hope everyone has had a good start to 2024. It is lovely to see all the children back in the building and to reconnect with all of you after the summer break.
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As you may have noticed, we have some new faces and new roles at the start of 2024. We bid farewell to our lovely Sally Mangos who retired after 20 years in the Senior Admin role. In her place we have Nic Smith, who many of you will already have said hello to. Nic is a wonderful addition to our team. Like Sally, Nic is helping us hold down the fort and make sure all the hidden (but vital) aspects of our service remain functional.
 
In January we also farewelled Wendy Entwistle. Wendy served for many years as a Social Worker with the service and then later as our Executive Director. She was a central force in our ongoing viability and vitality as a Centre. In Wendy's place, I am pleased to introduce our Interim Executive Director, Chloe Hewitt.
 
Some of you will already know Chloe, as she is one of our wonderful Speech & Language Therapists. Chloe held a leadership role in the organisation prior to Wendy's departure and has also been instrumental in the creation of new programmes, new initiatives, and the upgrading our technology. If you know Chloe, you know she is an amazing professional who is supportive, innovative, deeply kind and super smart. We feel very excited that she accepted the interim role and know that the Centre remains in good hands.
 
Both Chloe and I look forward to seeing you all as the year progresses. If ever you have questions, feel free to approach either of us.
 
Lauren and Chloe

CENTRE HAPPENINGS

Quiz Night Fundraiser 
 
On the 18th of February the North West Kiwanis Club held a quiz night fundraiser in support of the Champion Centre. The Kiwanis have been generous supporters of the Champion Centre for many years now and have once again dedicated their time and effort into a fundraiser for the Centre. It was a fantastic night with challenging questions and wonderful prizes. A big thank you to everyone who attended and the Kiwanis for organising a great night.  
 
 If you have any fundraising ideas, please reach out using the email:  [email protected]
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​Champion Centre alumni launch new group with a bang!
 
Nearly 100 former parents and staff of the Champion Centre gathered recently to formally launch the Champions' Alumni Association. The Association was the brainchild of a group of former parents who could see the incredible value of connecting families who attended the Champion Centre to socialise, support and share knowledge. Over 2000 families have attended the Centre since it opened in the late 1970's, so the network of those families and their wider community could reach thousands of people around New Zealand.
 
The launch event at Hotel Montreal was kindly sponsored by owners Michael and Michelle Patterson whose son George visited the Champion Centre two decades ago. The evening was very informal with a brief welcome by former parents Georgia Heard and Coen Lammers, and a message from centre founder Patricia Champion. Georgia spoke passionately about the value of the Champion Centre, and why that value could extend well beyond the moment the families say farewell to their therapists. Coen outlined some ideas from the organising committee around future events, which includes social events for children and parents, information evenings and a support network for parents with particular needs, problems or questions. He urged all the attendees to join the Facebook group as a platform to connect and encouraged them to share this Facebook page and provide feedback of what the members want the group to look like.
 
The launch event reunited many families and staff, and the banter went well into the night, which underlined the value of similar future events. The Alumni committee will soon reconvene to consider the next possible events and start marking any dates for follow up events.  
 
If you have any ideas for future events, get in touch with Emma Newman from the Champion Foundation Trust at [email protected] or through the FB page.

JULIE LEWIS' WONDERFUL SPEECH

"This is Gabriel, the youngest of our four kids and the reason we come to the Champion Centre. After 5 years of attending the Champion Centre, Gabriel transitioned to school last month. With the help and support of his team, his transition has gone very well and he’s settling into his new routines and environment. My transition on the other hand has been an absolute disaster, I’m just over here checking my emails for my plan sent to me of times and dates for my weekly scheduled visits! After coming here for five years for Gabriel’s therapy, I feel like I need to start my therapy to get over the fact that our journey here has come to an end! Needless to say, the reason we have to walk through these doors with our kids is hard, but the special people that you meet here, make it very hard to walk out of them. 

I often think of life like a puzzle. As we go along, we add pieces to it and our picture develops over time as we have new experiences and new memories are made. As with an actual puzzle, some pieces are easy to find, like if you’re doing a night sky or a garden, it’s easy to find pieces for the moon or flowers. But some pieces, like the sky or grass, are harder to figure out where the right pieces fit together. Life seems likes that too, where some experiences are easy and effortless and other experiences are more challenging and take longer to figure out how they fit.

The day Gabriel was born, should’ve been an easy piece to put into our puzzle, and yet it felt like someone came along, turned it upside down and threw it on the floor, leaving the pieces shattered everywhere. After Gabriel was born, we discovered he was having issues breathing, feeding and some other issues.

After a few hospital visits we were home with a newborn baby on cpap at night, a feeding tube and a profound level of exhaustion. Instead of this being the happy time it should be, it was a time consumed with grief, heartache, confusion and severe anxiety. I had no idea how to begin finding the pieces to start building our puzzle again and all the pieces seemed dark and impossible. When Gabriel was five months old, we were referred to the Champion Centre and after having a few sessions with Marguerite and the amazing team in the baby group, I felt like I had found a bright light in my puzzle amongst all the very dark pieces.

After a five-year journey at the Champion Centre, it feels like it has become part of our family. We have three older kids, who are now 19, 18, and 12. Every week the kids ask, “what did Gabriel do today?”. They ask about his therapists or social workers by name as if they’re part of our family. They have all been very involved in Gabriel’s journey here. They enjoyed coming along when they could to his sessions and getting to know the special people involved in his various therapies. When Zac came along, he loved the tea times, where he would send in his tea order, and then sit and have lengthy chats to the therapists or to Paula one of the social workers.

When Gaberiel was three years old, and we started looking at sending him to Kindy, we were blessed to have Margaret went above and beyond to make his transition to Kindy an amazing experience, with her guidance we found the perfect place for him to attend, and he absolutely loved his time there and thrived under her care. I have hundreds of photos on my phone that she would send to show me what Gabriel did in the day and messages back and forth every Monday and Wednesday evening without fail. Besides the fact that Margaret had long days, she always made time for me and allowed me the space to be open and vulnerable with how I was doing. She showed me unending patience as I can’t even count the number of times, she’s hugged me after I’ve cried with her, and her kindness, honesty and compassion got me through some really rough days. We all just love her and again we all felt like she is an integral part of our family. The kids ask every year if Margaret can come to us for Christmas. I have to tell them, “You know, Margaret does have her own family too”, which is usually followed by a long stare and reply. “So, can she come for Christmas or not?”. I don’t think I could ever find the words to thank Margaret enough for the gift that she has been to Gabriel and our family.

As time came close to transition Gabriel from Kindy and the Champion Centre, we began to look at school options for him. After visiting a few schools with Beccy, we decided that for now, Ferndale would be the best place for him. Beccy did our ORS application and thankfully he was accepted for that funding. We are so grateful for all Beccy’s help with that process, and once again without her guidance, knowledge and help, we would be lost trying to find out way forward in his school years without her. There are so many challenges we face daily with Gabriel, having to navigate this system, how it works, how to get funding, I just don’t know how anyone would do it without the help and level of support we get here. With Beccy, Margaret and the Ferndale staff, his transition to school has gone so well and so far, he’s doing great in his new environment, although most days he asks if he’s going to see Margaret or Beccy. He’s probably also wondering if they’re coming for Christmas.

After coming to the Champion Centre for a while, I started wondering how they find al these amazing people who work here? From the minute you walk through those doors, you just feel loved and special. I think the interview process must go something like this, assuming Wendy or Lauren do the interviews?

Wendy/Lauren: “How would you rate your amazingness out of 10?”
Applicant: “About 9.5/10”
Wendy/Lauren: “Nope, you’re out! Sally, call in the next one please. We require a minimum of 10/10 for being amazing to work here people!”

I’m obviously joking, and know it doesn’t go down like that, but honestly, how is it possible to have so many people working in one place who all get 10/10 for amazingness?

We have learnt so much from the therapists over the last five years on how to help Gabriel in all areas of his development. So many tips, advice and different ways to help him learn and engage in activities. Who knew there could be a song sung with such excitement about what’s in a bucket? And don’t every underestimate how many different types of swings they can hang from the ceilings, just when you think you’ve tried them all, out comes another one!

When our other kids were little, they played with dolls and Lego and all the typical toys. With Gaberiel, we’ve had to learn ways to help him play with toys and understand what to do with them. Sitting in a big tub of rice or beans and playing with toys whilst he sits in the tub has been one of the things, we learnt that we really enjoyed. Now when people come around, they ask, “why do you have that big tub of rice and beans?”. I’m just like, what? You don’t have tubs of rice and beans for your kids to play in? That’s weird! All these things are our new normal now and Gabriel continues to make progress on his own timeline.

This year, I had the privilege of being part of the Mum’s support group run by Lauren and Marguerite. I hadn’t felt up to going for one-on-one counselling since Gabriel was born. But when the opportunity came up to go to the group, knowing Marguerite and Lauren were running it, I knew I need to be part of it. Again, the experiences allowed me to find pieces to our puzzle, and as the weeks went by, I began to feel a sense of peace and gratitude as it was such a beautiful space for me and the four other beautiful Mums to share our journey’s. It was a time of connecting, learning, and being vulnerable, growing, crying and laughing. Hearing the insights and thought-provoking questions from Lauren and Marguerite, brought so much healing and peace, and they opened up a special space for us to feel safe to be vulnerable and share things we haven’t shared with many others. Hearing the other Mum’s journeys and thoughts and perspectives helped me to feel less alone and connected as we journey this life together and learn from each other. I know the special connections we have made will continue on for years to come and I hope other Mums who come through those doors will have this much needed experience too.

Every therapist, every social worker, every person on the admin staff, and of course Margaret, make you feel safe. They make you feel like your child has value in this world, where the world often tells us they don’t. Nothing in this life has challenged every part of me as a human being as having a child with a disability. It’s taken me to the darkest place in my mind that I never knew existed. The new voices in my head reminding me of fears I can’t always rationalize and questions no one can really answer.

Over the last five years I have been able to find pieces to create our puzzle again. It’s been slow and long and hard, and it looks vastly different to the puzzle we had before. But the Champion Centre will forever be a big part of our picture. It will always be a part of our conversations, the people we have met will always be held in a special place in our hearts, the memories of the time spent here will be etched in our minds forever, I just can’t imagine going through these last five years without this place. It would’ve been so much darker, so much harder and so much more isolating.
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The kids that come through those doors face so many different challenges, each one is unique and special and each one a real little champion. The people inside this building, who receive them week after week, they have the hearts of those champions and are the real heroes in the world. I know that we’ll always be a part of the Champion Centre family, and when I need a place of solace or peace, a hug, a smile or a comforting word, I know I’ll always find these things behind those sliding doors."

​​CAN YOU HELP SUPPORT OUR VITAL WORK?
We have continued to provide essential support to babies and young children with disabilities in Canterbury for over 46 years.

The challenge to meet our $700,000 shortfall between government funding and our overall operating costs is ongoing. With the help of grants and generous donors we are able to provide the intervention our community has come to expect from the Champion Centre.

If you are able to support us in any way, please get in touch with us on: [email protected] or click the 'DONATE NOW' button below.
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