Why does Erica love s.p.a.c.e?

I first heard about s.p.a.c.e through work. Coincidentally I started working with two of the directors, and was invited to the 2008 Open Day.

I went along out of curiosity, and to show my support to my work colleagues. I invited my sister Bronwyn to come along with me, as she has experience working within disability services and I thought she would find it interesting. Strangely enough, I didn’t think it would be of that much interest to me, and it was more of an excuse for a day of fun and face painting.

There wasn’t a lightning bolt experience for me with s.p.a.c.e. I didn’t come out of the Open Day believing that my life had changed in any way. But when Krista invited me to the Big Night Out, I decided to go along. I had very little firsthand experience with disability, and so I was apprehensive at first.

After the first Big Night Out, it was easy for me to commit to coming back, and I have been doing so ever since. A lot of times when people discuss volunteering they talk about what you can do for the participants. For me, s.p.a.c.e has always been about what the participants can do for me… Which is to change my life, and my way of looking at the world.

When you step into s.p.a.c.e it becomes obvious very early on that you are in a place where the only thing that matters is who you are inside. And the funny thing is, who you are starts to become someone more friendly and open and fun loving than you ever dreamed possible.

s.p.a.c.e is about all the warm and fuzzy things that you wish your whole life was about. It teaches all of us the importance of caring, and of community, and it makes us all better people. I feel lucky to have been involved in such an awesome organisation, and when I look back even though there was no lightning bolt, my life has changed for the better because of s.p.a.c.e.