On 2nd September, for the third year, the Barn on Flaxton hosted a fund-raiser for Restoring Hope Parkinson’s Therapy which is a not-for-profit registered charity based on the Sunshine Coast. Their mission is to work proactively to enhance the wellbeing of people with Parkinson’s disease. As a charity, provision of services depends on raising funds. Find out more from the website and Facebook.
RHP website: www.rhptherapy.org.au/
RHP Facebook: www.facebook.com/rhptherapy
This fund-raiser was a huge success with so many supporters that they overflowed the café. The Barn provided cake and tea/coffee which was a treat. Chaffey Backhouse auctioned many beautiful donated items extracting as many dollars from the generous supporters as only Chaffey can. And there were some extremely generous people there. Amongst the
sought after items were the beautiful bears made by Lorraine Dippelsmann who has been making them for 22 years.
Louise Williams is the founding Director of the charity.
Louise, a speech pathologist herself, addressed the crowd: “It is a privilege to work with such an inspiring group of people. People living with Parkinson’s do not function at their best when they are on ‘auto pilot.’ The automatic system does not work well and if people with Parkinson’s operate on this system everything gets scaled down – for example: steps get shorter, writing gets smaller, and voice gets quieter. The good news is that people with Parkinson’s can function better when they are intentional and purposeful with their movement. We have group therapy programs each week where people with Parkinson’s come together to do their speech exercises and encourage each other to live their best lives with Parkinson’s – by living with ‘intent’. It is not easy and there are many challenges, but the camaraderie and support of meeting with others for therapy (including the Parkinson’s choir/Sing-A-Long) is invaluable.”
One of the really enjoyable parts of the program was the Choir of Sound Intent whose members were people with Parkinson’s as well as some partners. They sang several songs including Neil Diamond’s “I’m a believer” which seemed to tie in with the feelings of those receiving the important therapy provided by the speech pathologists several of whom attended the fund-raiser.
One lovely gentleman, Peter Stidolph, read out his “Personal Recollection of the Past Twelve Months” which both amused and saddened everyone. He included his experiences with a group called the Loud Crowd who were also fighting their battles with Parkinson’s and met for speech therapy sessions warming up with “May-Me-Moe-Moo” with INTENT – to quote Peter. Peter also spoke of the enjoyment he has had from being a member of the Choir of Sound Intent. He states if it hadn’t been for the camaraderie of great mates, he would have found it very difficult to make it through these times.
It was a very lively afternoon managed perfectly by the staff of the Barn on Flaxton with embers of the Blackall Range Lions Club providing assistance where needed. Something to look forward to again in 2024.