11 May Thank you for helping us bring “Joy” to our clients’ lives

We love our new bus and loved sharing our excitement and gratitude with our community at our launch down the Main Street in Timboon last Friday. Community members were given the opportunity to have a look inside and be shown the amazing extra feature our new bus has, which is a wheelchair lift.

“This means that community members who experience limited mobility, can join our Social Support Group and increase their community involvement and reduce their sense of isolation, which supports their physical and psychological health”, says TDHS Chief Executive Officer Gary Castledine.

Like every proud parent, TDHS wanted to give our new bus a fitting name, so we asked grade one and two students from Timboon P-12 School, Nullaware and District Primary School, Cobden Primary School and Simpson Primary School to participate in a bus naming competition.

“We had lots of amazing colourful entries and we would like to thank all the students for entering,” says TDHS Community Engagement Officer Sabine McKenzie. “Finniss Wood, a Timboon P-12 School student, picked the name ‘Joy’ and we thought this was very fitting. His reason for the name was ‘for having fun’ and we also think our bus is laughter, happiness and a richer life on wheels, providing increased access to our Social Support Groups and unconditional day trips full of fun and joy.”

The bus was funded thanks to community support through our Annual Appeal fundraiser as well as corporate sponsorship from Beach Energy, Lochard Energy, Cooper Energy, SEA Gas and The APA Group.

“TDHS is very grateful to our generous community and sponsors for their amazing big-heartedness,” says TDHS Board Chair Frank Carlus. “It is such a great asset for the whole service and our clients, who will be using it and we thank all our generous donors for recognising the importance of having this bus and helping turn the vision into a reality.”

Please stay tuned for lots of ‘joy’ful adventures our clients will be having on their daytrips with ‘Joy’, thanks to you, our wonderful community.