OUR HISTORY
Wongan Community Care.
Where it all began...
Wongan Community Care (Previously Yallambee), a social welfare organisation, began in 2000 with Wendy Kelly seeking support for locally based education services for country families caring for a child with a disability. A special needs children's group and a respite group were formed, and a special needs school was opened using the Uniting Church Hall as the base. When the number of children reached 13, the Yallambee building was built in town. The group sought and received funding from the Department of Social Security through a wheat fundraising drive, which contributed $58,000. The land was crown reserve and vested in the Wongan-Ballidu Shire Council.
Over the years, Yallambee has taken on a broader role in the community, working with people with disabilities or disadvantaged individuals. In 2000, a strategic plan was developed, which has led to over 13 worthwhile community projects, including a skate park, families project, plough back project, awesome arts project, homework classes, and school holiday projects and the Wongan Hills Therapy Group project.
Wongan Hills Therapy Group.
Where we are now...
Heydi DeWaal and Susie Maquire, two local mothers who had children with special needs and were eager to create a better understanding of how they might support their children by providing local therapy-based programmes and activities, launched the Wongan Hills Therapy Group in 2012.
This group was initially established in 2012 by a group of local mothers. Over the course of time, the organisation has grown in terms of the number of people who are members of it, it has built a beneficial community collaboration with Wongan Community Care, and it has gone from strength to strength, and it now provides a variety of services to families of children who have special needs.