STARS OF THE sea By Joe Novella Photos Yanni & Kim Edwards
O
ne of the great benefits of writing for Peninsula Essence is you get to meet wonderful human beings, and we have plenty of them here on the ‘Ninch’ including Sarah Hilli and Julie Marshall, both long-term members of the Mount Martha Life Saving Club (MMLSC) and Program Managers for the club’s Starfish Nippers program.
Starfish Nippers is a program for children older than six and young adults who have special needs. Their disabilities include autism, attention deficit disorder, Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Asperger’s Syndrome, physical and intellectual disabilities and learning difficulties. The program has been running for five years at MMLSC. I asked Sarah how the program started. “I attended a Life Saving Victoria Conference, and I saw a presentation from Anglesea
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Life Saving Club promoting the Starfish Nippers program. So I showed the MMLSC Committee a video of the program, and asked if we could start one. “MMLSC had recently been rebuilt and I thought it was the perfect venue for Starfish Nippers. We had beach-matting to allow people in wheelchairs to get to the water and we had a lift, disabled toilets and change facilities. Our committee’s response and support was amazing. They said to go for it, so we did. Julie and I started with one Nipper and it quickly grew to 5 in our first season. We now have 15 Nippers.” Kim Edwards is the parent of two of those Nippers, Holly and Cooper. Holly is 19 years old and on the severe side of the Autism Spectrum, being non-verbal and in need of constant care. Cooper is nine and also on the Autism Spectrum on the high-functioning side.