Please help get Adrian back on the road!

Hi, my name is Kate. I live in the remote outback town of Tennant Creek, NT, Australia. A very good man in this community lost his independence & mobility, when a troubled youth broke into his home, assaulted him, stole & trashed his car, which had been modified to accommodate his wheelchair.

Adrian Calyun is a man who has helped others all his life. He now needs OUR help, but would never ask for it himself!

A teacher all his life, Adrian is now retired. He's lived in numerous outback/regional/remote locations in South Australia (Whyalla, Port Pirie & Oodnadatta) before moving to Tennant Creek in 2000. He's lived here ever since, giving much to this community.

Adrian's been a volunteer with the TC Show Society, RSL & Memo Club committees. He was a volunteer Army Cadets leader for 7 years, has been involved in many youth activities, and has been a foster carer. He has been a radio/communications volunteer with SES emergency services for the last forty years, and continues this today! He shows a heartfelt commitment to serving his community, and in retirement has added the local Op Shop to the list above!

And all of this he's done happily, despite being wheelchair-bound!

Losing his crewman Ute has stolen his independence, leaving him with only the wheelchair to get to all these voluntary commitments! The Ute was comprehensively insured, but their payout on an old Ute was a pittance, and he needs our help to get back on the road.

Adrian's teaching career focussed on teaching English, and Society & Environment, now known generally as Humanities. He wrote student-focussed programs, and has always had a strong positive relationship with young people. Many adults have grown up, having benefited from his support through their adolescence. My own son learned much from Adrian, as a young member of Army Cadets. I saw first hand, how trustworthy, reliable and giving he is to the kids, which is why I've stepped up to help him now!

It truly broke my heart to hear Adrian explain how he's never focussed on his limitations in the past, but rather on his skills and how he could use them to best serve the communities in which he's lived. Despite spending decades in a wheelchair, it's only NOW that he truly feels disabled as he finds it so difficult to wheel from one end of town to the other. He can't travel to remote communities without a vehicle, and deeply feels the struggle to maintain the strong relationships he has built over the years with the families of the young people he has supported. He even used to use his Ute to ensure that kids got home safely after dark!

Let's dig deep and help this good man to continue to do good! Every cent raised will go towards purchasing a replacement vehicle and having it modified to suit his wheelchair needs. I hope every person he has ever helped as a youngster will dig deep and give back to him. You'll make a mighty difference to an older man's retirement, helping him to kindly continue to serve others!

Even if you can't afford to give money, please share this appeal far and wide through your contacts. Every dollar will help get a very deserving man back on the road again, in a vehicle he'll mostly use to continue helping others as he's done, all his life! Thank you.