Goodwill the right recipe
had children with disabilities.
Isabelle Gray, 3, was born blind and hearing impaired because of her rare gene mutation called Sox2.
Her family are fundraising for equipment to help support Issy’s development, and eventually would aim to raise about $40,000 for a disability vehicle for Issy and her sisters to travel in.
Gretchen Good’s two adopted children, Leo Nash, 7, and Tiffany Nash, 4, were born with Down syndrome. Leo is visually impaired and both children have orthopaedic problems so need to be supervised closely when playing.
The family received their assist- ance dog, Caz, in July and were aiming to raise $20,000 to go towards funding an assistance dog for another family.
Robertson said her students had been involved with both families as part of their placements with children with special disabilities.
She said the fundraiser was a great way to support the families involved in their course, and help students develop skills in food and nutrition which was integral to child wellbeing.
Student Grace Pride said as part of her nannying course, she was placed with the Gray family to learn how to care for a child with disabilities.
‘‘It’s so hard to raise children in general, and with a special support child it can be even harder, but the families are so good,’’ she said.
Pride said she learned a lot on her placements, and hoped the fundraiser would help both families in some way.
Gretchen Good said Caz was an essential part of her family, and like a sibling to Leo and Tiffany.
‘‘She goes to Playcentre with Tiffany and she just keeps them safe.’’
Good said both Leo and Tiffany had a lot of energy and ‘‘neither of them had a sense of safety,’’ so Caz was an integral part in keeping her kids protected.