Benjamin Jenner - Club Cares Recipient

We approached Club Cares about assisting young Benjamin Jenner with the costs of having a trained Assistance Dog. Benjamin has autism and anxiety especially in busy/noisy places which can lead to sensory overload. An Assistance Dog can help the family do things that others take for granted.

Benjamin would be tethered to the dog so he cannot run away. The dog also calms him and can assist with concentration. The cost of an Assistance Dog is $40,000, and recipient families are asked to raise $25,000 of this. The family has already raised $20,000 of this cost.

At the Lifestyle Workshop in Hobart by the Galway Branch $500 was raised and committed to the Jenner family. We again raised another $520 of which $320 from raffle tickets and the balance of $200 came from the sale of Margaret Tacey’s book. Marg and I donated the total proceeds of Marg’s “Aussie Indigo” book sales, this book relates to Autism and has lots of ideas on how to help gain some balance for Autistic kids for those who are on the spectrum. We sold 20 books, donating $10 per book which totalled $200.

The Jenner family (Colin, Simone, Ben & Harvey the dog) attended the afternoon session. Colin, Benjamin's Dad spoke about autism and the difficulties for the child and family as well as the benefit of  Harvey the “Assistance Dog” of which the total cost to train is $40,000. The family has to contribute $25,000. They had raised $20,000 with $5000 yet to be raised. Once Colin finished his talk Kevin Young contributed to the remaining $5,000.

A total donation of $5,000 was announced and the Jenner family could not believe it and thank the Property Club enough.

This brought tears to the Jenner family and also to a number of people in the audience.

Cheers,

Peter Tacey Property Mentor Property Club Galway Branch

Jenner Family says Thank You

"Simone and I would like to say thank you to you for having organised this tremendous act of generosity. During this whole fund raising process, Simone and I have been through a quite extreme emotional roller coaster, from feeling somewhat lost as to how we could ever achieve what we needed, to great satisfaction at having provided something that people have enjoyed and contributed at the same time.

Through all that we have been repeatedly humbled by the generosity of people, their time and effort as well as their donations. We don't know what will happen with Benjamin in the future. We hope that he may one day be an independent person able to enjoy life to the fullest on his terms, and we will do whatever is necessary to help him achieve that. But we also need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that he may be dependent on us for the rest of our lives.

Either way, having Harvey (the Assistance Dog) with us will, and already has, changed our lives for the better, and Club Cares has played a significant part in helping that to happen. I would like to be in a position one day to not only be able to properly provide for Benjamin and all our children, but hopefully help others who may be in need.

Once again, thank you. It's a phrase we will never be able to say to you enough."

Collin Jenner