WHAT WE DO
it’s about more than just houses
It’s About a Secure Future & Peace of Mind
The Carinbundi Foundation was established to build or purchase quality, affordable houses where People living with a disability can live with dignity, freedom, safety and independence.
It’s not just about bricks & mortar. Having a safe and secure home helps People reach their full potential. It also provides their family with the reassurance that their loved one is safe and well. So often, families ask
“Who will look after our loved one when we are unable to?”
Where We Work
At present, the Foundation is focused on acquiring property in Bundaberg.
Case Study: Peace of Mind for Brad’s Mum Sandy
Sandy’s son Bradley experienced a convulsion just after birth leaving him with brain damage. Now an adult, Brad needs 24-hour care as he also epilepsy in addition to his severe intellectual impairment.
For Sandy and her husband, the strain over a long period was causing many issues in their family life. They also questioned whether they were even equipped to meet Bradley’s day-to-day needs in the long term.
Supported Independent Living has proven to be a huge relief for the family, and a big step forward in Brad’s development. Slowly but surely he is learning to do more things for himself.
Sandy also says that it provides her with a great deal of peace of mind.
“We know Bradley will be secure in time to come. He’ll have a permanent home to live in and he’s not going to be displaced.”
Feel good knowing you are giving the gift of Dignity, Freedom, Safety & Independence.
Case Study: Freedom for Fern & Independence for Lydia
“It was difficult making the decision for Lydia to move into Supported Independent Living. Initially, I felt that I wasn’t being a good mum and I felt a sense of guilt that I wasn’t looking after my own daughter. Now that I have seen how much Lydia has grown in confidence and developed with her everyday living and people skills I feel really confident that this was the best move for Lydia – and our whole family.
“I am very proud of Lydia’s achievements and she now has a part-time job which she loves.”
“It has been a really positive experience for our family. As a young woman, Lydia is living her life, her way. This is no different to any other young woman – they need their own space to grow and develop.”
“She now has her freedom and independence which she loves plus the safety of living with friends but having a support worker there when required.”
“As a mum, I have complete peace of mind but, more importantly, I can be MUM. I visit her at home regularly and we still have regular Mum and daughter outings which is wonderful.”
Give the gift of independence.
Older Carers
There are so many questions and uncertainty around having an adult child with a disability. Everyday, families ask the questions of where will they live? Who will take care of them both emotionally and financially?
It is very important for families and particularly older carers to feel assured and confident that their loved one is living a full and happy life. It is also important that families know their loved one has their “Forever Home.”
By owning the houses, the Foundation is able to provide a HOME FOR LIFE.
Give the gift of Safety Independence Dignity Freedom
At Home with Amber, Amanda & Tinkerbell
Amanda & Amber live together in a Supported Independent Living home.
I was fortunate to have had dinner with Amanda and Amber at their home recently. What really struck me was the pride they have in their house and how they liked showing me around. I got to chat to the ladies over pizza and they talked about living in supported independent living and how they enjoyed it. The girls have been sharing a home for a few years now with a number of different staff supporting them to lead a full and inclusive life.
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Amanda and Amber share the cooking and do the grocery shopping themselves with the help of a support worker. In all of our houses, family and friends are encouraged to visit. This is certainly the case with Amanda and Amber as Amanda’s family regularly come over for a meal and their neighbour often visits to watch “Home & Away”.
Nothing says “HOME” like a dog and Tinkerbell is certainly an important member of the household with both ladies taking responsibility for looking after her.
Both ladies also enjoy their sport with Amber playing both soccer and basketball. Ten-pin bowling is also a popular sport with both of them playing in a league. Amber and Amanda are due to travel to Brisbane to play basketball and Ten-pin bowling in September for the Special Olympics.
Amber volunteers most Mondays at the RSPCA where she cleans out the cages, plays with the animals and does other jobs as required. As an animal lover, Amber also takes Tinkerbell to dog-training every week and this is something she loves and is very good at.
They are both active members of the Impact Choir which keeps them busy as they regularly perform for our community.
At Carinbundi we believe it is so important for people with a disability to be an integral part of our community and be able to attend community functions, events, play sport as well as work and volunteer. We aim to make “inclusiveness” a reality in all of homes and this is very evident at Amanda and Amber’s home.
Forever Homes for People living with a disability. One brick at a time.
Most of us…
Shortage of secure, affordable and accessible housing for people with disability is not exclusive to our major cities.
Bundaberg has a higher rate of people living with a disability than many other Australian towns.
Most of us think that people with a disability are being looked after by their family or friends and it’s not really something that we need to worry about. We think that the Government looks after all of these people and, to a degree, that is true.
Most of us believe in inclusiveness and are happy to see people with disabilities out and about enjoying themselves in our community.
We regularly see people with disabilities out shopping, bowling, at the movies, at the beach or even volunteering at places with their support worker.
When we see this in our community, most of us believe that we have strong support systems in place and we don’t need to worry. Most of us think ‘’somebody” else is looking after it.
Do we ever wonder where people with disability live? What is their home-life like? Who looks after them when they are at home? Who are their friends? Do they have holidays? Are they at risk of abuse? What happens if their family members are unable to care for them any longer? What if their mum or dad have to go into aged care? What if their siblings are unable to support them? who looks after their financial security?
Of course we don’t ask ourselves these questions. Most of us are happy to see people with a disability out and about with their support workers enjoying their outings and participating in our community and there is nothing wrong with this. Most of us think this is what inclusiveness looks like.
Do you know what? That’s OK. Hopefully, you have been fortunate not to have been affected by “disability” in your life and you haven’t needed to think about these things.
Let’s all stop for a few minutes now and ask ourselves some of these questions ……..
A bit frightening isn’t it?
Of course not everybody is worrying about homes for people with a disability in Bundaberg – nobody would expect that to happen. We live in a very busy world these days – people are busy with their own work, businesses, families and a hundred other things that need to be done.
At the Carinbundi Foundation, we do think about all of these questions. We do worry where people with a disability will live when they can no longer live at home with family.
That is our vision – Disability Homes for Life.
Our research shows that people with disabilities want quality, affordable housing where they can be part of a small community, feel safe and secure and have the necessary support they need to live a full and happy life and reach their full potential.
Actually, isn’t that what most of us want in life?
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The Carinbundi Foundation wants to build houses that become homes where residents are free to be themselves, where they feel safe and secure and can share with like-minded friends. We want these homes to be close to community amenities where residents can visit their local shops, post-office, newsagent and cafes and become integral members of their community. We want the community to know the residents by name and we want the residents to know they are valued members of their own community.
We want the residents to love being in their own home and, like most of us, we want them to feel that their home is their sanctuary. Somewhere they can be themselves, somewhere they can invite friends and family over, be surrounded by their own belongings, be able to stay as long as they want. We want their home to be a reflection of who they are. We want them to have dignity, freedom, safety and independence.
We want them to have the same as “most of us”.
As a community we can make this happen …. One brick at a time.
The Carinbundi Foundation has launched their Buy-a-Brick campaign so our community can help us make this vision a reality.