My volunteering journey with CPA

My name is Suzanne. I have been volunteering for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance for the past 5 years and enjoyed every minute of it.

A few years ago, after working a number of years in Office admin I was looking for a ‘semi-retirement’ opportunity as well as a change of pace and environment. While researching my options I stumbled onto a volunteer Admin assistant position for the Communication and Marketing team at Allambie which sounded perfect.

I was familiar with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance work over the years, having been a donor to the organisation since the 90’s. My involvement with the organisation came from a desire to help find treatment of this condition with 2 cousins living overseas in Eastern Europe with suspected CP.

My new team of ‘colleagues’ made me thoroughly welcome as I started and helped me ease into the CPA world.

Over the years my assignments have been extremely varied and included:

• Preparing for World CP Day: contacting and preparing a list of organisations involved across the world.
• Translating the children’s book ‘CP passport’ from Dutch into English
• Putting together spreadsheets for mail-outs e.g. details of health professionals who CPA wanted to approach with new information of their services.
• CPA YouTube audit and News and real-life stories audit.
• Transcripts of interviews of clients including the beautiful children participating in different programs like HABIT-ile.
• Another highlight was transcribing the interviews of top doctors and specialists who participate to large international conferences like the 2017 San Francisco summit.

Along the way, all these projects have not only broadened my understanding of the condition but helped me learn of the exciting possibilities of treatment through research and the development of new techniques to treat different aspects of CP.

As well as feeling very valued at CPA for my volunteering, this work has given me the opportunity to develop new skills while enjoying being part of a caring team and organisation. At the same time, it has given me a true sense of hope and excitement at all the opportunities around the corner for a brighter future for the treatment of CP.

Interested in volunteering with us?

Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of people with a disability and helping us achieve our mission. Explore our current volunteer vacancies or contact our dedicated volunteer team who can help find the right opportunity for you.