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Earlier this year, the two mothers embarked upon a fundraising drive to encourage public awareness of autism.

Hitting upon the idea of a blue car sticker campaign with the slogan ‘I love somebody with autism’, they got to work. 

Mel printed up and peeled hundreds of stickers, and Katrina hopped online, coordinating a social media campaign to sell them all.

All that remained was the rather important question of who they would donate the money raised to.

“We really wanted to keep the money in our area,” said Mel.

“We wanted families to be able to access services that have helped – or in my case, could have helped – their children.”

Katrina has been taking her autistic daughter Melita to the Great Lakes Early Intervention Centre in Tuncurry since she was two.

Unfortunately both her and Mel’s older children’s autistic diagnosis came too late for the early intervention services, but both women are aware of the value the centre provides to those who are able to access them early enough.

Now three, Melita Fletcher attends a half day session at the centre on a weekly basis.

Under the guidance of early childhood trained workers, Melita plays alongside other children with a diverse range of special needs.

A speech therapist and an occupational therapist help with the playgroups on alternate weeks, splitting their time between the centre’s Tuncurry and Taree based units.

“Melita doesn’t like ‘nearness’, or people touching her. But there’s a little boy at these sessions who loves touching her hair. She lets him. In fact, playgroup doesn’t start for them until he has touched her hair,” said Katrina 

“For us, the early intervention has taught Melita that she has to associate with other people, even though she might not want to. It has helped her understand her emotions, aided by visual charts of feelings and the use of sign language.” 

Katrina thinks that if her oldest son had been diagnosed when he was younger and had been able to access the early intervention services, they would face less issues today. 

Over the course of just a few months, the two women have raised just over $1000, which they are donating to the Manning Great Lakes Early Intervention Unit to help pay for some of the much needed resources for children and staff.

“The money has come out of the blue,” said Sally Gibson, the centre’s service coordinator. 

“It is a lovely thing to happen.”