Giving is in the family
EASING the burden on families of sick children is a huge part of life for Ellie Thomas and her family.
Ms Thomas has volunteered at Townsville’s Ronald McDonald House for 13 years, inspired by her daughter, Sue Pearce, who also regularly contributes to the House’s fundraising efforts.
“Sue said ‘ the house was in need of some help’ and did I have some time, and so that’s how I got involved,” Ms Thomas said. “I started here and I’ve been here ever since.”
Between volunteering as a “washing warrior” and completing any other odd job the house needs done, Ms Thomas creates beautiful handmade cards in her spare time to raise funds for the vital facility.
“That’s my hobby, cardmaking, and because I had an excess amount of cards I thought, why not bring them to the house and give them to sell as fundraisers,” she said.
“It’s all to do with the families we’re trying to help.”
Ms Thomas’ daughter has watched the Townsville House grow from the ground up, from the accommodation to the recently opened Family Room at the Townsville Hospital.
“We were country kids, and when I was a kid we had a fam- ily who had a son who had leukaemia, so they had to travel all the time,” she said.
“( The mother) ended up learning how to give needles because they didn’t have anywhere they could stay, so I said this is the charity for us.
“As our business has developed within the community we’ve grown with the house, which has been really interesting.”
Ms Pearce said her three kids, now aged 23, 21 and 17, had also done their bit for the house over the years.
“It’s pretty cool to be part of something so much bigger than just the individual,” she said.
“It puts everything back into perspective. You can go to work and have a bad day but what’s a bad day when you have a sick child?”
Ms Thomas said she and her family had no plans to finish up with the house soon.
“As long as I’m standing up I think I’ll be here,” she said.
“We’re having a cruisy time as a family compared to what those in the house are having.
“We haven’t had major sickness with our grandkids, therefore we’ve never had the pressure. Knowing we can help others who have a lot of pressure on them, and it must be tremendous, we’re very fortunate.”