Past Warragul Rotary Club members Peter and Sally Dell are continuing their good work of supporting Purple House in Alice Springs. Purple House is a non-profit Aboriginal community-controlled health service looking after people on dialysis from remote communities.
Peter and Sally sent Warragul Rotarians an update on their recent trip to Alice Springs.
Former Warragul Rotarian Sally Dell (right) presents one of the seven beautiful children’s quilts donated to the pediatric ward in Alice Springs. They will be given to children to take home. Thanks also to Warragul Rotarian Rosemary Allica who made the quilts.
A note to members of the Rotary Club of Warragul from Peter and Sally Dell.
In September, Peter and I packed a trailer and set off to Alice Springs. After much planning and packing, we travelled through scenic countryside for three days, staying at historic Peterborough, and Coober Pedy. It was good to see holiday makers and tourists in the outback as Covid has had a massive effect on tourism. Tourist operators told us that the cost of living, cost of fuel and violence in Alice Springs has affected visitors to the area.
The trip allowed us to take donations to various organisations - we visited Purple House with blankets made by the Fairview Homes Knitting Group - they were thrilled to share these blankets with clients. Purple House is an organisation that was established 20 years ago by indigenous people. It is a non-profit Aboriginal community-controlled health service looking after people on dialysis from remote communities. The organisation’s unique, award-winning model of care prioritises people, Country, culture and compassion. The hospital services clients in Western Australia and Queensland as well as South Australia.
For more reading on Purple House go to www.purplehouse.org.au
A number of Rotary clubs have also given support to Purple House through many projects.
Sally Dell (centre) presents the Purple House with blankets made by the Fairview Homes Knitting Group.
Boxes of baby clothing and blankets were donated by Olivia’s Place and the Neerim South Op-shop, and they were shared between the maternity and paediatric ward.
Warragul Rotarian Rosemary Allica donated seven beautiful children’s quilts for the pediatric ward and they will be given to children to take home - a very heartfelt thank you to Rosemary, as these children would not own something so special. Most of the children are in hospital due to malnutrition. Staff would like to see the federal government run the community stores who charge unbelievable prices for basic food.
We went to other organisations to deliver goods and then attended the Rotary Club of Allice Springs. The club has 25 members and is one of three clubs in the town. They all combine to run the Henley on Todd regatta… it is the world’s only dry river boating event. They are in desperate need of committee members to run this event and are going to change their constitution to enable non-Rotarians to assist in this iconic event.
Peter presented the Dream Cricket story and the club has agreed to buy a kit for the Acacia Hill School. The school caters for students aged from 3 to18 with special needs. Currently the school has approximately 100 students with classes having 5 to 9 students with a teacher and a special education support assistant.
We enjoyed visiting the Transport Museum, Desert Mob (art exhibition featuring 30 artists), and explored the Stanley Chasm which is an important place of indigenous Australia. It is 100% owned and operated by the local Arrernte community.
It was a short trip of nine days and we enjoyed being on the road and found that we wanted to turn around once hitting the lights of the city.
Thank you always to the Rotary Club of Warragul and members for supporting both End Trachoma and Dream Cricket. These programs could not exist without encouragement and support from Rotary Clubs.
Yours in Rotary
Peter and Sally Dell