A heartfelt plea for assistance from our community and friends to assist us financially to complete the final touches to our Aquatics and Wellness Hub. Our hub is all-inclusive and will cater for kids from all walks of life.

We will have a particular focus on helping children with special needs to be able to live their best lives and feel included within the community. The past few years have been a rollercoaster ride however I am not giving up on my dream which started many years ago.

We started as a backyard swim school in my house in Elanora, QLD with myself and one other instructor. After a few year's we outgrew this location and I purchased what I thought would be my forever home in a prime location to build an all-inclusive centre on a large property in Tallebudgera Valley, QLD. My swim school grew and I had 8 staff and approximately 400 little swimmers all learning how to be safe around our Gold Coast waterways and pools. Covid then hit and we had to shut down for a few months. Along with most small businesses, we endured a massive financial loss during this time. Upon reopening our neighbours became extremely nasty and sadly we were forced to close down. I not only was forced to sell my family home over this but suffered financial and emotional stress hiring lawyers to help me fight for my cause.

Anyone that knows me well will know that I DO NOT GIVE UP. For a very short period of time we were able to move our still-growing swim school to another location hiring lanes temporarily, then to Tallebudgera Creek and finally securing some lane hire at the Tallebudgera Recreation Centre. The centre was our home for 12 months and although we were beyond grateful, it did however come at a very high cost with large lane hire fees that we still sadly hardly broke even, along with multiple pool closures over winter preventing us from operating our business. For me though, it wasn't about being profitable it was about keeping kids in the water, teaching them aquatic skills and drowning prevention.

Our swim school grew to 600 clients and 12 staff and I was in the planning stages with a developer to finally build our own centre in Currumbin. A large amount of money was spent on getting the ball rolling with developers at a particular site and I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, there was a change in developers and we lost ALOT of our funds and found out the new developers didn't want our centre on their site. We were back to the drawing board, looking for a new site and then were informed that the Recreation Centre was closing for a refurbishment for up to 6 months.

STILL NO STOPPING US!! We are currently teaching and coaching 600 plus students at the creek and in the ocean and now have 18 staff that we have managed to keep employed.

Last October I found an old warehouse in Burleigh that we have converted to what is very soon to be our beautiful Aquatics and Wellness hub. Our pools are in and the majority of the work is complete.

As a passionate aquatics industry professional, volunteer surf lifesaver, family-run small business owner, and advocate for aquatic safety, I am seeking financial help to complete the specialised areas of our centre such as a lift and hoist for wheelchair dependant children, a sensory area and an all inclusive gym to name a few. We are also seeking funds to re-cooperate the capital that we have lost over the last few years as mentioned in my above story. These funds will enable us to fully cater for all children's physical, emotional and psychological well-being within all of the areas within our facility. Unfortunately, we do not qualify for any government grants as we are a small business, not a non for profit.

I have dreamed up, project managed and funded this entire project myself so far and wouldn't be asking for help to bring my full dream to life unless I was completely out of options.

Every share, dollar or cent counts whether it's $1, $5, $10, it really means the world to me and will make the world of difference. Thank you all so much in advance, I am forever grateful.

Big Love

Skye x