Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
2025 WA Senior Australian of the Year Brother Thomas Oliver Pickett AM
Australian Community Media
Follow
1/20/2025
Meet Your Australians - 2025 WA Senior Australian of the Year Brother Thomas Oliver Pickett AM. ACM is proud to be media partner for the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
There are so many kids in the world that need a wheelchair. According to World Health there's
00:06
thousands and thousands and thousands of children need a wheelchair for all sorts of reasons.
00:11
At Wheelchairs for Kids we have a mission statement. We listen, we care, we give to
00:18
children with disabilities around the world so they can get off the ground, have mobility
00:24
as well as dignity. The start of Wheelchairs for Kids actually started in Brisbane. A fellow
00:29
called Des Laurence went with his wife to Fiji on a holiday and he found these little
00:34
kids on the ground with cerebral palsy and he thought I'm going to do something about
00:39
this. Anyway he came back and he made six wheelchairs out of bikes he found at the tip.
00:46
And he took them back, he saw the fun the kids were having, the other kids were pushing
00:49
them around, first time ever being off the ground, and he said there must be other children
00:54
in the world like this who need a wheelchair. And he asked any rotary club in Australia
00:59
to see if anyone could help and that's how I got involved and I've loved it ever since.
01:04
Wheelchairs for Kids is a voluntary organisation. I'm now the volunteer factory manager. I'm
01:11
there every day and I've got to make sure that the orders we've got get out on time.
01:18
All the people who make the wheelchairs, we're all volunteers, we come from all walks of
01:21
life. We've got 235 retired people through the week. It leads me on to the wonderful
01:26
ladies who are sewing the covers for all the covers we need, the back supports, all
01:32
the hip and trunk supports, the headrests. We thank our donors and also our suppliers
01:39
for the wonderful prices they give for the parts for making the wheelchairs and our wonderful
01:46
donors who regularly send in money to make the wheelchairs. We're very, very grateful.
01:51
The impact of Wheelchairs for Kids, I think, is the fact that we've sent away now 60,
01:58
just over 61,000 wheelchairs to 81 countries around the world, including the mission parts
02:05
of Australia. Having been overseas and seeing a lot of these little kids that we've sent
02:10
wheelchairs to, the joy and the happiness on their face once they get off the ground
02:15
and sitting comfortably in a chair, it does give you a lot of satisfaction. That's what
02:22
really keeps me going. What we're trying to do with these little kids is to give them
02:25
a new life, just a better life than what they're having at the moment.
Recommended
2:18
|
Up next
2025 WA Young Australian of the Year Jack Anderson
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:21
2025 NT Senior Australian of the Year Michael Foley OAM
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
5:27
2025 Senior Australian of the Year Brother Thomas Oliver Pickett AM
Australian Community Media
1/25/2025
2:31
2025 SA Senior Australian of the Year Charles Jackson OAM
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:35
2025 VIC Australian of the Year Neale Daniher AO
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:43
2025 QLD Australian of the Year Geoffrey Smith
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:32
2025 WA Australians of the Year Dianne Haggerty and Ian Haggerty
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:51
2025 NT Australian of the Year Grant Ngulmiya Nundhirribala
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:22
2025 QLD Senior Australian of the Year Dr Bronwyn Herbert
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:30
2025 NT Young Australian of the Year Nilesh Dilushan
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:28
2025 SA Young Australian of the Year Amber Brock-Fabel
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:32
2025 QLD Young Australian of the Year Dr Katrina Wruck
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:45
2025 NSW Australian of the Year Kath Koschel
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:47
2025 SA Australian of the Year Professor Leah Bromfield
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:41
2025 ACT Australian of the Year Megan Gilmour
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:47
2025 Tas Senior Australian of the Year Associate Professor Penelope Blomfield
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
2:33
2025 ACT Senior Australians of the Year Marilyn Ralston and Peter Ralston OAM
Australian Community Media
1/20/2025
4:24
2025 Australian of the Year Neale Daniher AO
Australian Community Media
1/25/2025
0:16
2024 Australian of the Year: nominations to close on July 31
Australian Community Media
7/24/2023
3:56
2023 Australian of the Year: Meet your Senior Australians candidates
Australian Community Media
1/18/2023
0:39
Nominate someone for the 2025 Australian of the Year Awards!
Australian Community Media
7/26/2024
4:23
2025 Young Australian of the Year Dr Katrina Wruck
Australian Community Media
1/25/2025
1:29
Australian of the Year 2023 Honours announced
Australian Community Media
1/26/2023
0:30
Nominate for the 2023 Senior Australian of the Year | July 6, 2022 | ACM
Australian Community Media
7/6/2022
3:00
2023 Australian of the Year: Meet the Young Australians of the Year
Australian Community Media
1/23/2023