Leaving a legacy
A special legacy will forever live on at MSWA Rockingham, with a WA family generously donating their late wife and mother’s curated collection of craft supplies to our Outreach Clients.
The donation was so large that our Facilities Team purpose-built a new shelving unit to store the sheer number of machines, papers, buttons, beads, glitter and just about every other item a crafter could ever dream of.
‘Julie’s Corner’ now resides proudly at the centre, with Julie watching on from the top shelf to inspire our Rockingham crafters with their projects.
The new set-up was unveiled at a special morning tea in March, attended by Julie’s husband Laurie and son Mitch.
“She was a really special lady. For her, craft was something she really enjoyed,” Mitch Brown said.
“It’s great to come to Rockingham to see how beautifully it is set up, but also just to hear the Clients talk about the things they will be able to do with it all.”
“It’s amazing, it’s really what she would have wanted – to see people get that same enjoyment out of it is really special.”
To honour Julie, our Rockingham Outreach Clients carefully decorated the letters spelling out ‘Julie’s Corner’ using the gifted supplies.
“My dad has brought a photo of Julie to put up there which is really nice, and to see her name up on the wall, it means a lot,” Mitch said.
“I think it is something that took my dad a while to come to terms with – what he was going to do with her things – but it is great to give it to someone who will get the same appreciation out of it.”
“I would encourage others to think about giving a second life to the things their loved ones have left behind.”
Client Teresa McCutcheon has attended Rockingham Outreach for close to a decade and had never heard of anything “quite so amazing” as this donation.
“It arrived in bits and bobs, and we thought we would get a few boxes,” she said. “We would open them and think ‘wow, that’s amazing’ and then more and more would turn up,” Teresa said.
“A few of us are real keen crafters, so my craft stash envy is strong! Seeing Julie’s picture on the wall, she was an ace in the ‘stash’ building game, and absolutely my idol that I aspire to.”
“I just can’t thank Laurie, Mitch and James enough, because I don’t think they are ever going to get an inkling – we don’t probably even have an inkling ourselves – of just how much it is going to mean to us going forward.”
MSWA extends our sincere thanks to Laurie, Mitch and James for their kindness and generosity. We know our Client crafters will never take this blessing for granted.