IF you have a child in a wheelchair or a child with autism, Graeme and Linda Gillbanks want to hear from you.
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The couple, who are heavily involved in fundraising for the Variety charity, want to make an application for funding for a Liberty Swing for the Adventure Playground, but to do so they need to know figures on how many kids will benefit from the chair.
A Liberty Swing is a revolutionary piece of play equipment for people with disabilities which gives children in wheelchairs the opportunity to enjoy the fun and recreation of swinging.
Variety champions the invention and is aiming to get the swings into as many communities as possible.
Mrs Gillbanks said as part of the application process they need to find out how many kids will benefit from the swing, which costs around $40,000 in total.
“A Liberty Swing will benefit kids in wheelchairs and they are also great for kids with autism; the motion of the swinging settles them,” she said.
“But to complete the application we need information about how many children in the community would benefit from something like this.
“We have no idea where to go to find that, so we are hoping people will come forward and contact us. We need people to let me know [that] yes we would use this.”
Mrs Gillbanks said Variety does a lot of great work in the community – not only for disabled children, but also for disadvantaged kids.
“Because we’ve worked with Variety for a couple of years now [the couple are currently fundraising for its Jet Trek], we’ve seen the Liberty Swings and the benefits they give children.
“The ones we’ve seen are portable and can be moved around, but we would like to have one permanently installed in the Adventure Playground.”
Mrs Gillbanks said she had spoken to council about the proposal and there was support so far.
If the application is successful, Mrs Gillbanks said Variety would fund part (about one-third) of the cost of the swing.
“We will need to raise the rest plus site costs, which would be another $15-$18,000 to cover installation, fencing and soft matting.
“But we believe it’s definitely worthwhile.”
Any family with a child who would use the swing is encouraged to phone Mrs Gillbanks on 6332 3306.
