SYLVANIA Rotary Club and the 3Bridges Community Early Years Support Service had the support of the Prime Minister's wife, Margie Abbott, at a recent fundraiser.
Rotary club president Margaret Driver said she had wanted to help the Early Years Support Service (EYSS) and was pleased to have Mrs Abbott speak at the fundraising luncheon at Doltone House on Saturday, July 18.
Mrs Abbott spoke about her life growing up in New Zealand, her experience as a working mother raising three young girls with a busy working husband.
She also spoke of her dedication to raising awareness for children at risk, and the importance of proper nurturing in those very early years of their lives.
Mrs Abbott said her greatest interest was in the 0-5 year age group, and spoke about the significant brain development that happened in the first three years of a child's life.
She praised the 3Bridges EYSS, a vital early-intervention program for isolated mothers who could be experiencing stress such postnatal depression, anxiety, ill health/disability (of self or children) and multiple births.
The service provides a home-visit program by trained volunteers to support mothers with new babies in their own home.
EYSS co-ordinators Anne Van Vuuren and Lina Wilmott manage a large, award-winning team of volunteer home visitors in the Sutherland Shire. This involves recruiting, training, linking and supervising volunteers.
One of their clients, Anita Schmied, spoke of her experience with EYSS and how it changed her life.
Mrs Schmied, mother of three boys under five, referred to volunteers as a guardian angels - coming in for a few hours a week and offering tremendous support to her and her family when they were at their most vulnerable.
She spoke of the struggles she and her husband had endured being older parents, being isolated from family, starting a new business and renovating a house.
Mrs Schmied said she considered the volunteers part of the family.
