Reach Out, October 2017, issue 106

TSA News
President’s Report
Debbie Crosby, President
The best part of my role as President of
Tuberous Sclerosis Australia (TSA) is
meeting so many wonderful people from
our tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)
community. Earlier this year we held
our TSC Global Awareness Day picnics
across Australia. It was great seeing
so many people get together and new
families joining us as well. Meeting and
speaking to people who are new to the
TSC world reminds me of the importance
of connecting with others who have
shared a similar path, and hopefully we
can help by supporting and guiding
them through the challenges of TSC. I
would like to acknowledge the work of
our regional contacts. They organise the
picnics and are always willing to help
support people living with TSC and their
families in their home state.
In the last couple of months I have
attended two amazing fundraising events
which, not only raised needed funds, but
brought awareness of TSC and highlighted
the many wonderful people who come
together to support our organisation. Our
annual fundraiser, Lizzie’s lunch, now in
its fourth year and at a new venue, raised
$16,000. I would like to thank Sue and
Ross Pinkerton for organising the event
with our General Manager Clare Stuart.
It was great to see people there from past
years and also to welcome new people to
this event. We also presented Sue and
Ross with Life Membership awards in
recognition of their work for TSA over the
past 30 years.
I also attended a Christmas in July
dinner at the Padstow Bowling Club
which brought together 200 people from
the local community who had never heard
of TSC. The local community spirit
was amazing and the dinner raised over
$12,000. I would like to thank John and
Donna Belgre and their family including
Nathan, Aimee and of course their
beautiful daughter Emma, for nominating
TSA as their charity for this lovely dinner
and helping with the organisation of this
event. Without events such as these we
would not be able to continue with all of
Without events
such as these we would
not be able to continue
with all of the work we
do at TSA.
the work we do at TSA.
Which brings me to the great work of
our volunteer committee … In May the
committee spent two days working on
our strategic plan and planning for the
future of TSA. Understanding the needs
of our members and the TSC community
and working on how we can support them
through information, support, advocacy
and funding of research is fundamental
to our organisation. What is also very
important is how we will continue to
sustain funding into the future to
support our many projects.
I would like to thank all of our
committee members who commit their
time to support, advise and work for TSA.
With the support of the committee and
our General Manager, Clare Stuart, we
hope to lead the organisation successfully
in the years to come. Another part of our
strategic planning was looking at how
our organisation can grow to support
future projects. To this end, I would like
to welcome our new Communication and
Fundraising Coordinator, Kate Garrard.
Kate has hit the ground running since
May and we look forward to working with
her.
At the time of writing we are finalising
the planning for the Melbourne TSC
Information Day on Sunday 8 October
which also includes our Annual General
Meeting. This will be a very informative
day with TSC experts presenting on the
latest information and research and it is
also an opportunity for you to meet others
with TSC. We always receive feedback
after these events about how valuable it
is to meet and talk to other people living
with TSC, and sharing their stories and
knowledge is invaluable. TSA often holds
information days around the country. To
stay up to date on these and other events
I encourage you to subscribe to our email
newsletters, follow us on Facebook or visit
our website regularly.
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Reach
Out
OCTOBER 2017 ISSUE 106