Letter from Liz Scott, President of APPAAL, about the Pancake Breakfast:

Dear Melanie,
Just a very quick note to thank you,the members of the AWCL, volunteers and
sponsors for the most wonderful Pancake Breakfast. Everything was perfect,
from the venue, to the food and most of all the spirit.

I am conscious there were many people at the event who I, on behalf of the
families of APPAAL, did not thank for their commitment to the cause of ALL
children with learning needs. For information, I have sent you the foreword
to APPAAL's activity report for 2007, which is being finalised and
translated - please feel free to send this to your sponsors - it gives them
a sense of why we are doing this project.

For many years, both as a parent and educator I have wanted to mobilise the
creative forces in our community to support families from every walk of life
with a child whose needs are not clearly understood by society - this
support emcompasses counselling, therapy, education, leisure, but most
importantly love and acceptance from our community. It is this last part
that is the most difficult to achieve. At last, we have a core group of
people willing to commit time and energy. There is no magic solution - we as
parents have to start the ball rolling - knowing that others will follow!!!

You need to know that Sylvie and I are in touch with many families and all
send you their thanks. Your gesture has given many of them a new sense of
purpose. An example: one of our families, lost their adult son 18 months ago
from a sudden illness - the father has started to re-emerge, returning to
the fold, by deciding to help others in spite of his huge and irreplaceable
loss. We can never fully appreciate the effect that a gesture of solidarity
can do in terms of restoring hope when one is passing through such intense
suffering. In listening to this father, I could only offer up his pain in
prayer - as there was nothing I was able to offer on a human level.

Thank you for letting me share today with you,

Kind regards,
Liz