Extra special Mother’s Day present for an extra special Mum!
As well as celebrating Mother’s Day this Sunday, National Volunteer Week begins on Monday 9 May until
15 May 2016.
With both of these very important dates upon us, we wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you and acknowledge the enormous contribution one of our Gateways volunteers has made over many years.
As one of our longest serving Interchange Program Hosts, Lyn Swan has been part of our Interchange program for over 20 years. Lyn who is a mother herself to two children, including Katie who has Down syndrome, has also been supporting Casey, a now 24 year old woman who also has a disability.
Lyn recalls that she decided she would like to be an Interchange volunteer with Gateways after hearing about it through a friend.
“My husband had just passed away and I wanted to do something new. Becoming an Interchange volunteer with Gateways gave me a feeling of being needed and a purpose,” Lyn says.
Often while Lyn would have Casey, her own daughter Katie would go to a host family, although the two girls soon developed a real friendship.
“It’s like Katie’s having a friend coming over when Casey stays with us. The girls have the same sense of humour,” Lyn said.
Since first becoming a volunteer, Lyn has remarried and her husband Rod, happily joined Lyn in her role of supporting Casey, and has also found the role very rewarding.
“The laughter that comes out of that room when the two girls get together and watch their favourite shows, is wonderful to hear,” Rod said when talking about the beautiful friendship between the two girls.
This year’s National Volunteer Week theme is Give Happy, Live Happy as research shows that volunteers live happier and healthier lives. We can certainly say that Lyn, Rod, Casey and Katie are a shining example of this.
“Casey is like a breath of fresh air, she’s unbelievable,” Lyn cheerfully describes Casey.
Well we think that Lyn is pretty unbelievable herself and to show a small gesture of our appreciation for all she has done over the years, this weekend thanks to our community partner the Geelong Cats, Lyn and Rod are off to the Presidents lunch at the Geelong v West Coast match. Lyn and Rod have been Geelong Cats members for 10 year’s but have never been to the President’s lunch so Saturday will be a new experience for them. Our friends at Westfield Geelong have also generously provided Lyn with a Westfield voucher to treat herself to something nice for Mother’s Day.
We hope you have a wonderful day on Saturday and a lovely Mother’s Day with your family.
