27 July, 2022 marks a significant date for Cerebral Palsy Alliance – it’s ten years to the day since our Allambie Heights head office and therapy centre was officially opened!
Our Allambie home was opened on 27 July, 2012 by then-NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell at an open day for clients, families, special guests and supporters. The state-of-the-art facility was a massive community effort, and the fact it was standing at all is testament to our fantastic CPA family.
Less than five years earlier, on Sunday 16 December, 2007, a fire tore through the 4,000 square metres of Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s two-story head office on the same site.
The blaze was one of the most challenging periods in our 77-year history, severely disrupting operations such as client services, therapy, fundraising and much more.
While thankfully all our clients were safe, the fire destroyed countless records and pieces of equipment. More than 100 staff who worked on-site needed to be relocated, and many CPA staff worked out of shipping containers in the Allambie carpark in the following years.
However, out of adversity we have achieved great things. A major fundraising campaign, ‘Raise the Roof’, raised $7 million from supporters to rebuild a new therapy centre and headquarters even bigger and better than before.
Our Allambie Heights centre now includes specialised therapy rooms, pre-school classrooms, a children’s games room, a parents’ lounge, an all abilities playground, a fully equipped gym and weights room, outdoor sports spaces, a dental clinic, equipment workshop and an education and training hub to service the wider disability sector.
We’re incredibly proud of the state-of-the-art centre, but what makes it truly special is the hundreds of people with disabilities, families, carers, allies and supporters who come together on the site every day.
