Connect 21

Kia ora e te whānau, 

Winter has officially arrived! I hope you're keeping warm as we head into the icy months.

I wanted to start off by saying farewell and thank you to the wonderful Lauren Porter who is moving on from her time at the Centre. Alongside her instrumental work as the Clinical Director for nearly four years, Lauren has demonstrated a huge commitment to the psychological and emotional support of the Centre parents and has been a member of many teams. Please join me in wishing Lauren all the very best in her next steps, she will be hugely missed.

I'd also like to share a big thank you to the public health nurses who have been kind enough to administer vaccinations to children and whānau attending the Centre. Throughout term 3 the public health nurses have come into the Centre to administer the flu vaccine and other catch-up vaccinations to those wanting them. Thanks to them we were able to provide a calm and familiar space for those receiving vaccinations.

We are continually grateful to all of our supporters. As a not-for-profit organisation, while we receive government support, we still need to raise over $1,000,000 per year to ensure we can continue to provide high quality services to children and families who need them. To support our fundraising efforts, the Centre is planning to complete an Annual Appeal later in the year. If you'd like to help our cause, sharing the word on what we do and getting our name out there goes a long way.

Next term we are looking forward to running a Pamper Evening, details around the date of this evening will be shared early next term. Weekly programmes will also be holding their 6 monthly Individual Planning meetings with whānau to share celebrations around their child/ren and discuss any areas of focus going forwards.

In this newsletter you can read about Natasha and Gus' story of their time at the Centre. Thank you very much to Natasha for sharing their journey with us, we wish you all the best for your future! 

There are many exciting events on the horizon so keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Happy reading,

Chloe Hewitt 

CENTRE HAPPENINGS

The amazing Paul Roshe from PAR Creations was kind enough to donate a selection of chopping board to raffle off. Paul is not only the father to one of our very own Champions but has a serious talent for turning recycled timber into household items. 

Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets and congratulations to the lucky winners.

PAR Creations has a range of wonderful, handcrafted items from chopping boards to serving trays. If you're interested, check out their website https://parcreations.co.nz/

EVENTS

The Champion Foundation Trust is excited to announce:

A CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT Friday 20th September 2024 at the Christchurch Golf Club. 

12.30pm Shotgun start and BBQ and registration from 11:30am.

The tournament will be Ambrose style.

A delicious BBQ and on course drinks will be provided. 

LIVE AUCTION and light supper to follow at the club rooms.

Please see the attached flyer at end of the newsletter for further details.

We absolutely need your help to raise funds for the future sustainability of the Champion Centre and what better way than to enjoy a round of golf with friends. 

The purpose of the Champion Foundation Trust is to build up a capital fund to generate investment income to secure a sustainable future for the Champion Centre.

If you would like to register a team and enjoy an afternoon of golf while also being a champion in helping future Champion Centre children, please complete the attached editable flyer and return to championfoundationtrust@gmail.com or email Steph Burdon on championfoundationtrust@gmail.com.

We are on the lookout for hole sponsors (hole sponsorships are $500) and auction items, so if you or your company are interested in sponsoring a hole or donating an auction item, please email Steph Burdon. 

You can help make a difference.

NATASHA & GUS' STORY

To give you a full picture of how we came to be at the Champion Centre I thought I should start at the beginning.

Our son Gus (Augustus) was born premature at 27 weeks 4 days.  He was 725 grams, or as I realized later, less than the amount of the cream cheese I put in my Christmas cheesecake. He was under the 5th percentile for his gestation, and in other words, he was a very small dude. He was 31cm, about the actual size of a ruler.

I had the first hold of him a week after he was born and then a week and a half after that my husband had the second hold. 

When you say your child is prem, I don't think people think of what the child actually experiences or the parents for that matter. Many people think it is just a matter of waiting and growing.

Whilst in hospital Gus was intubated & extubated twice, treated for onset sepsis twice, had

numerous 'profound desaturations' and was started on caffeine. He was allowed more

caffeine than me at that point. He was also treated for pneumonia and had 3 blood transfusions. Gus spent 138 days or 5 months in hospital. He was born in April and came home in September.

​​I wanted to share this information as it gives an idea of not only how amazing our medical services are, but also the strength, challenges and all the interventions and sensory input/overload Gus experienced. 

At 7.5 weeks old (1.8kgs) Gus was quite unstable so by the middle of June we had still only held him approximately 12 times.

We started in the Monitoring Programme in early 2019 after a call to the Champion Centre about some concerns we had. It was hard for us to know if what we were seeing was just us or not, being older first-time parents. 

Occupational Therapist Mariana came and visited Gus at our Playcentre and by early the next morning we were told that the Champion Centre had a place for Gus in an Eary Intervention Programme. For us, this gave us the reassurance and the professional support that we needed for Gus. 

When we started in the programme in 2021, we really had no idea what was happening for Gus and with time and lots of input this became much clearer. The Champion Centre helped us get a diagnosis for Gus who is Autistic. 

The Champion Centre gave us guidance as to how we could support Gus in areas that we had no understanding of, and they have given us a community that we cherish.

Community is so important, and especially more so when you have a child with additional needs, as it can be such an isolating experience. Having people who have shared experience, I’ve found to be both cathartic and joyful. They have helped us to really understand and know him and I think as a parent there can be no greater gift.

Gus is now 5 years old, about 116cm tall and 25kg. He is a sunny, bubbly ball of energy who loves Lego, dinosaurs, The Power Rangers and Ben 10. He needs lots of sensory input in the form of the trampoline, swimming, sand pit play and slime or putty to be calm and happy.

Gus has recently started school and the Champion Centre have been so supportive during this transition and really backed our decision in waiting to find the school that we thought would be the right fit for Gus. The transition isn’t without its challenges but knowing that we have help and support at hand is worth its weight in gold. The Champion Centre really wraps it arms around you in such a holistic approach, I really wonder why there isn’t one in every region in New Zealand.