An Illawarra community Facebook group is encouraging residents to ‘‘pay it forward’’.
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Set up three months ago by Unanderra resident Steve Longden, the Big Hearts Illawarra page has attracted around 850 members and has already helped many in need.
Mr Longden said nothing is for sale on the site - it’s all about donating goods or services to others, who can then offer items or assistance back where they are able.
‘‘I saw how many people were requesting help in some way on selling sites, yet their posts quickly descended down the page and out of sight.''
‘‘In the three months the page has been in operation we have helped a foster mother set up a nursery for a newborn; helped move an elderly man without the money from his home into a retirement village and totally furnished a home for a young struggling family,’’ he said.
‘‘We also have provided toys and bikes to children with parents that can’t afford it; helped a mother clean when she was struggling to pack up and clean a house and avoid double rent and we have wonderful members making sensory pillows for children with special needs.
‘‘These things - and more - are all taking place without any expense to the person needing the help.’’
Mr Longden set up the group in response to the many calls for help he saw on community-based internet sites.
‘‘I saw how many people were requesting help in some way on selling sites, yet their posts quickly descended down the page and out of sight,’’ he said.
‘‘Then I saw the wonderful community spirit when a lady with a special needs child couldn’t afford to get her son’s dog out of the pound and the community all pitched in and raised over $2000. The dog was saved and a new Colorbond fence was installed to stop it happening again.
‘‘I was astonished by what we as a community can achieve.’’
The response to the Facebook page has been ‘‘incredible’’, with 150 members joining the initiative in the past week alone.
‘‘I have a wonderful caring bunch of people behind the group that all have their own sick children or financial pressures that still give their time and love to pay forward to others,’’ Mr Longden said.
‘‘Because that’s what our group continues to push - when you receive kindness then please pay it forward, and the members are doing exactly that. It’s quite a beautiful thing to see.’’
Among the Big Hearts Illawarra projects currently underway are a food co-op where people can exchange produce and a toy drive to make Christmas hampers for those in need.
How Big Hearts is helping young brain cancer survivor
Community kindness is enabling a Figtree family to create a sensory room for their little girl with special needs.
Six-year-old Ila Smith-White still suffers from the side affects of having a cricket-ball sized brain tumour removed as a baby.
Without the operation Ila would not have survived, but she has been left with a global developmental delay which has stopped her from walking or being able to say more than a handful of words.
She also has hypothalamic obesity, epilepsy, a rare form of diabetes and an adrenal insufficiency which puts her at risk of falling into a coma from something as simple as the flu.
‘‘Ila needs constant care,’’ mother Nicole said. ‘‘She also has behavioural problems including erratic mood swings where she head bangs and tries to punch herself in the face - for hours on end.
‘‘But she loves space and the outdoors and that’s why we want to create a sensory room for her downstairs, with a deck out to the garden.
‘‘I’ve also been speaking to other parents with children with sensory issues so that we can organise a monthly playgroup so the space is able to be used by more people.’’
Mrs Smith and her husband Ian Smith-White have joined a new Facebook group Big Hearts Illawarra, which aims to help out community members in need.
A crew of retired carpenters has already pitched in to form the deck up, and do some initial work on the adjoining sensory room, and now the site is calling out for members to help provide materials to get the job finished.
In turn, Mrs Smith is donating items to other families in need.
‘‘We don’t have that much, but we give what we can and that’s the whole point of Big Hearts Illawarra,’’ she said.
‘‘The Illawarra community has been so generous to our family over the years, and now it’s great that there’s a page like this where people can give and receive help.’’