Hope for those with Autism

December 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

Grab your tissues and watch this video.

A new centre, the first of its kind in Western Australia, designed to help children with autism and developmental delays, was launched in East Fremantle, near Perth, Western Australia on Wednesday of last week.

The centre, known as the Learning, Education and Research Network (L.E.A.R.N.), aims to ensure that children suspected of having autism or developmental delays are diagnosed and receive intensive treatment at the earliest possible time.

L.E.A.R.N. was established by Perth woman Mandy Mason, whose daughter was diagnosed with autism in 2006 at the age of two. That’s Mandy and Juliette in the video.

I had the privilege of interviewing Mandy during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM last week. It was a delight to hear the passion Mandy has for the centre and the help that is being provided for dozens of families.

You can hear my chat with Mandy by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

If you’ve had experience with Autism I’d really appreciate hearing a little bit of your story through the comments section of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR281108_1550.mp3]

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Summertime … and the living is easy

December 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

sunflower.jpgAre you ready for summer? Whether you are or not, it’s officially arrived here in Australia. The warmer months are now upon us.

Already throughout spring we’ve seen more people in shorts and t-shirts but we need to get ready to see more white legs making an appearance for the first time since last summer. My cyclists’ tan is coming along nicely. My brown arms stop where my cycling shirt starts and my legs have a similar thing going on with the very white bits suddenly turning very brown where my shorts end. By the end of summer I’m sure the difference will be even more pronounced. I could always try to tan the white bits but a cyclists’ tan is a badge of honour.

I’m sure that BBQs are being wheeled out everywhere and their gas bottles being filled, air conditioners being serviced. Summer has arrived and we’re getting ready for some scorching hot days.

A white Christmas is the last thing we’re ever likely to experience here, unless it’s the magnificent, white, sandy beaches along our coast.

How’s the weather where you are? Is it getting hotter or colder right now?



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Staying Out of the Doghouse

December 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments


Very funny.

Have you ever been in the doghouse?



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All I want for Christmas

December 2, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

GiftCatalogue.jpgI’m torn.

Most of us love receiving gifts and now that we’re into the Christmas season our thoughts go to giving and receiving. I’ve got to be honest and say that I’d love to get lots of exciting gifts this Christmas but while I’m being honest I also have to admit that there’s not really much that I need.

On the other hand there are millions of people around the world who, through no fault of their own, don’t even have enough to feed themselves or their families.

The Global Food Crisis continues to claim lives and the crisis is only deepening.

Compassion Australia has now released their Global Food Crisis Appeal Gift Catalogue. It’s full of a gift ideas that will save lives. Did you realise that just $14 can help feed a child for a month? How can we indulge ourselves with stuff we don’t need when such a small gift can give life? How thankful would we be if it was our child being saved with that gift?

Compassion Australia’s CEO, Paul O’Rourke explains the need for the catalogue.

Every night over 300 million children go to bed hungry. An emerging global food crisis threatens to widen this tragedy by forcing an additional 100 million people into extreme poverty.

Knowing that children are going without food for one day is bad enough, but knowing that, because of the global food crisis, children are going without food for days on end is simply too hard to stomach.

Here in Australia we may be feeling the pinch of having to pay a few cents more for petrol and food, but it is those who already struggle to live on less than a dollar a day that are paying the worst price of all – the inability to feed their children.

Here at Compassion we have committed to raise $2 million dollars by 30 June 2009. We are constantly asked if we have a gift catalogue, so we have combined the need to raise money for this urgent cause with people’s desire to buy gifts for friends, colleagues and family. We hope that as you eat dinner each evening you will pray for those who don’t have what you have, and when you need to buy a gift, as we all do, consider buying a gift that has more meaning than most.

Thank you for your support.

Blessings

Paul O’Rourke
Chief Executive Officer

I hope you’ll have a wonderful Christmas and that you enjoy the giving and receiving of gifts, but I also hope that you’ll carefully consider helping those in desperate need by choosing something from the Compassion catalogue.

I don’t want my selfishness to contribute to the problem so I’m hoping that when people consider what gifts to give me this year they’ll choose them from a catalogue like this one.



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