DAPTO LEAGUES SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY 

Welcome to the clubs, Our Club Our Community section. Dapto Leagues Club is exceptionally proud to support a large number of community, charity and sporting groups in the Dapto community many of which could not operate without our assistance. This support is predicated on our community supporting their club and we look forward to seeing you in the future.

David Hiscox ACCM
Chief Executive Officer

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How Dapto Leagues Club is making a real difference...

Max Potential

Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families (SCARF)

Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families (SCARF) is a volunteer based local charity working with the
newly arrived Humanitarian Visa refugee community, to enhance their resettlement process. We believe that the helplessness and distress of refugee entrants will be relieved by empowering them through personal mentoring, provision of training grants, targeted education programs, and workplace experience programs. One feature program is to provide educational support for children and adults. This photo shows one of five after school groups which cater for 50-60 young people each week. The assistance provided by Dapto Leagues is used to supply refreshments for all after school groups.

Sharyn Mackenzie, Secretary/Program
Coordinator, SCARF Inc

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THE SHEPHERD Centre

How Dapto Leagues Club is making a real difference

The funds generously donated by Dapto Leagues Club is helping a deaf child via The Shepherd Centre’s Early Intervention Program.

About the program Dapto Leagues Club has helped to fund

Every year, 1 in 1000 babies born in Australia are born deaf and 3 in 1000 become deaf through illness.  Without developing spoken language children are unable to enter fully-integrated mainstream schools and will have fewer opportunities available to them throughout their education, career and in everyday life. 

The Shepherd Centre’s Early Intervention Program enables children to develop spoken language and live lives full of opportunities.

The Early Intervention Program enables deaf and hearing-impaired children to develop spoken language to the level of their hearing peers.  Our aim is that when the children are school-aged (6 yrs old), they are able to attend fully integrated mainstream schools.  By developing spoken language they have a greater range of opportunities available to them, are able to fully participate in the hearing world and reach their full potential.

Dapto Leagues Club support is helping a child like Bernado…

Bernado’s father Leonardo recently gave us his account of his family’s experience and journey so far:

“Bernado was diagnosed with hearing loss as a newborn baby just one ay after he was born. His diagnosis had a huge impact on my wife Carolina and I. We felt completely lost and didn’t know what would happen to our son. We had never considered the possibility of our child being born deaf or hearing-impaired, and had no idea what to do. I felt helpless and unable to have an influence on my own son’s life. 

We were both still very shocked by Bernado’s diagnosis when we first visited The Shepherd Centre but we were immediately put at ease by the Centre Manager who explained the options they could offer Bernado. We were amazed by the technology that was available to help Bernado and that with The Shepherd Centre’s help we would be able to teach him how to listen and speak. We felt full of hope for the first time.  

The Shepherd Centre has supported us through every step of our journey, from learning to cope with Bernado’s diagnosis, to his first and then second cochlear implant surgery and switch on.  Seeing Bernado hear his first sound was amazing. We are now starting to hear him make his first sounds, which fills us with hope for his future. Carolina and I use the techniques we are taught at The Shepherd Centre each week to teach Bernado to listen and speak when at home. We start every day like this using pictures and toys to help us. 

It’s always great to visit The Shepherd Centre and meet other families who are going through the program. It’s wonderful to see older children on the program speaking and listening, and to learn about all the fantastic things that children who leave The Shepherd Centre go on to achieve. 

Bernado is now two years old and is making great progress. In three/four years time it’s very likely that he will be able to go to a mainstream school with other children his age. Our family is so happy with the amazing support we’ve received at The Shepherd Centre every step of the way, and we are filled with hope for Bernado’s future.” 

Thank you for your support.

Roz Taylor

Acting Fundraising Manager | The Shepherd Centre

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AERIAL Patrol

The Aerial Patrol's three dedicated emergency response aircraft are crewed by trained and experienced volunteers.  
Every year, regular patrols of the region's beaches are undertaken during the 6 months of summer keeping a watch over swimmers, surfers and recreational boating and fishing enthusiasts.  
The aircraft are also on call to Police and other authorities 365 days a year in a search and rescue capacity over land and water.  
Demand for increased shark surveillance flights over our beaches is at the highest level in 5 decades.  Donations provided by Dapto Leagues will contribute significantly to boost the number of patrol flights across our region with the objective being to help maximise public safety.

Harry Mitchell
General Manager | AAP