Susan Universe Replace Her Beloved Van

Hello,

Anyone who has ever met Susan will tell you the first thing they noticed about her is her heart. Whether she is laughing at a joke, hugging a stranger, or crying with a sister, Susan is heart first into the world and everything she does.

As a yoga teacher, reiki master, life coach, and more, Susan's heart calling for many years has been for helping others heal and have a happier life. In this time, she's helped people with mental health problems, disabled children, young men in prisons.

9 months ago, Susan got her campervan - Mary Magdavan. This van meant she could travel through our community and reach some of the people who most needed her - not as paid work but as a response to her hearts calling and love. Spending most of her time in North Sheilds and Druridge Bay, buy travelling as far as Botton, and the Scottish Highlands, this van was the freedom and joy Susan had dreamt of for so long, and she travelled in it with some of her favourite posessions: a Paiste gong, angel tuning forks, tarot cards, crystal singing bowls, her clothes. I've watched as Susan responds to the calls of her community, going to comfort people who are dying, who have been attacked, or even rescuing people from a sinking car at a burst river bank. This year, Mary Magdavan was helping distribute Women's Street Watch NCL "Stockings for Sisters" campaign (gift bags for women who have faced hardship in 2024 like homelessness, mental or physical health problems, etc).

At 430am on Boxing Day, in an unprovoked act of violence, two men made a call to police saying they could see a man circling Mary Magdavan and trying the door handles, shouting and screaming as he did so. As they were on the call, they noticed a fire break out, and within minutes, Mary Magdavan was burnt to the ground, losing almost all of Susan's most special posessions as well as three bags of donations for women who've experienced hardship.

About the attack? Who did it? We don't think we know him. In fact, we think he was so drunk he didn't know himself, where he was, or what he was doing. We are appealing for him to come forward so we can have some closure, but we don't feel rabid for prosecution. We understand he was having Christmas much worse than ours, whatever the reasons, he was not surrounded by the love and joy we had.

I've watched Susan go through this from day one, and watched her heart break as she realised the dream of a VWT25 she had finally achieved was really gone. I've seen her go between optimism and sadness and loss of hope. I've seen her hold to faith, hold to those around her. And her distinctive heart first attitude hasn't wavered, not even once.

Susan deserves our support, and I encourage anyone who has ever been touched by her or her work, to rally around her in support of her now. We are compiling a list of everything she has lost, but until then, even just a few pounds on this Go Fund Me will help her rebuild her life.

We appreciate it so much. Thank you tp our friends who suggested we do this - it helped give us the nudge we needed to get going with what needs to be done ❤️