In December last year DSR launched our annual Christmas Appeal to donors and supporters seeking support to allow us to grow our schools program, WheelTalk.
Wheeltalk is an interactive program that encourages students to think about diversity, acceptance and disability with a primary focus on inclusion.
December’s appeal sought support from our community to help us expand the Wheeltalk program and reach over 200 schools and 10,000 students in 2023.
The campaign shared the story of our Wheeltalk presenter, Peter who’s journey from Nigeria has become famous amongst primary and secondary schools across Victoria. He details how being born with a disability at the time was almost a death sentence and that one of his uncles left him in a drain to die just because he was different.
It was from this point in time that Peter strove for something better for himself, every day he would crawl kilometres to and from school just so that he could get an education.
Peter also details how he first found sport, “my friend invited me to come and lift weights at the gym, at first I thought I can't do that, but I went along and tried it.. and loved it!
This lit a fire inside Peter who grew more determined by the day as the sport of powerlifting because a passion, so much so that he represented his country at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, I still remember telling my dad that I was going to compete and I was scared he’ be angry, but he just walked over with tears in his eyes and shook my hand and told me how proud of me he was.
Following the Games in Sydney Peter moved out to Australia and has been integral in creating change ever since, in his time with Disability Sport and Recreation he has presented to over 600 schools.
It was Peter’s determination that inspired DSR to set a lofty goal of reaching 200 schools and 10,000 students this year, but to do this we needed support from our community to help us invest in equipment and infrastructure to allow the program to grow.
We asked... and you delivered! The support we received from our donors and community as part of this appeal was overwhelming, raising a whopping $48k which surpassed our previous best campaign.
DSR CEO, Liz Tesone said “We’re so grateful for our donors and the support we receive from them, they’re the lifeblood of this organisation, with many of them having support DSR for over 20 years and
have helped make a difference in the life of thousands of Victorians living with disability”.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters for their invaluable contributions to our cause. Thank you!
If you like to find out how to become a supporter of DSR and help us grow our WheelTalk program click here
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