A whopping donation to Piper’s Trike Appeal earned Loft in The Mill a place in the club – if you ever feel the need for a weekend away in the Dandenongs, there’s nowhere finer.

Due to a family emergency the Qld office will be unattended for a few days. Please contact Liat @ igab.org.au with any queries in the interim.

Peter says ” I do have that hope that we can find and build upon a spirit of giving and generosity. There’s little doubt that we do have that spirit, especially when you deal with more well known disasters . But what catches my eye are the many unsung charities who might not be as well known. Once you see the lovely family & kids you’re helping, you take a moment to see how blessed we are, but how many others are in need.”

In December Lauren decided to make some Christmas cards, jewellery items and other things that would make perfect little Christmas gifts. She thought she might sell them to friends and neighbours and donate the proceeds to I Give A Buck! When she told her friend Jassie about it, Jassie was only too pleased to help.

With less than a week before Christmas we got an update that the girls had raised $68 – which we thought was pretty great. Then, with the help of Lauren’s younger brother James and friend Casey, they donned their Christmas hats and did a final round of the neighbouring streets (with mum Louise) and by the end of the night they’d raised the total to a whopping $167.70!

Louise said that they all had a lovely time and that the expereince was really rewarding for them all – it might even become an annual event!

We think that the kids are pretty special and that the world will be in good hands in the future if there were more kids like these four.  Thanks kids!

Meet Odin – one very cute 2 year old!

Odin was born extremely prematurely (at 26 weeks) and suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

His condition leaves him with significant mobility issues in both his arms and legs – something that greatly impacts his mobility. Odin finds it very hard to sit without support – even for very short periods of time and has limited floor mobility, having just recently learnt to roll and crawl on his tummy.

A Second Skin Body Suit, like the ones we’ve previously funded for Amy, Jocelyn and Piper, would allow Odin to sit without support for the first time and to walk independently using his walker. He’d wear it every day, allowing his muscles to work better and get stronger.

These differences would make a huge difference to Odin’s quality of life and give him access to a much greater range of play experiences.

Odin’s mum is a very young single mum who adores him, and who wants him to have every possible opportunity to develop to his potential – but she’s never going to be able to do this alone on a carer’s pension.

Odin’s Suit will cost $2,735 and there is no government funding available to assist with that cost – so we’ve launched this appeal to raise that funding.

If you’d like to donate to Odin’s Appeal just go to the bottom of his appeal page to find out how.

You’d think 15 operations would be too much for anyone, but at 9 years of age, when we met Bailey in December 2011 he was about to have his 16th in January 2012.

…and this time his ankles would be cut, turned and bolted and his tendons cut.

9 year old Bailey from the Melbourne suburb of Berwick is one gutsy little dude. Coming into the world with a rush 8 weeks before he was due, he was later diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy Spastic Diplegia – which for Bailey means uncomfortably stiff and contracted muscles that he has had to contend with each and every day of his life.

In addition, Bailey was born with his two outer fingers missing on his right hand and his thumb and index finger fused together and unbendable.

Bailey has come through some huge challenges. He’s now had 15 operations on his legs, hands, eyes, and bladder, and has had several Botox injections into his muscles to temporarily relieve them from tightening, increase his flexibility and reduce his pain.

It’s imperative that Bailey remains as active as possible, especially after this next operation – otherwise as he gets older permanent tightness of his joints may develop.

At the moment, Bailey sits and watches the kids play on their bikes outside – his little sister Jazz can join in, but Bailey has very poor balance and needs a three wheeler trike. His therapist believes riding is not only one of the best physical therapies for Bailey, but one of the best social ones too. It would allow him to be included with his friends. As his mum Michelle says “the trike would be his legs, his freedom”.

Bailey’s trike cost $804 and we were able to raise that amount in just a few days! His trike was delivered in time for Christams – have fun Bailey!

Enabling parents to have some much needed time away from the pressures of caring for their little ones 24 hours a day can mean the difference between them coping or not coping with the physical and psychological demands that come into play when you have a child with high dependency needs.

Funding in-home nursing care for children is one of the ways that we can support parents in their hour of need, give them some breathing space, get them out of the house and enable them to have some time as a couple – all things vital to maintaining the stability of the family unit.

We funded over $10,000 of respite care in 2011 and have just funded $154.40 for 4 hours of in-home nursing for Jocelyn today.

We use grant funding (when we have it) General Donations and occasionally funds in our Emergency Fund (for eligible children) to pay for these nursing services.  If you’d like to help support families in this most important way, you can make a  donation to our Emergency Fund here…

Australian children’s charity I Give A Buck Foundation of Australia Ltd assists children from disadvantaged families who also suffer from a life-threatening or life-altering illness or condition – with particular focus on terminally ill children.