Komatsu’s Live your Dream program has kicked off for another year, with the first activity one of the biggest ones to be completed yet.
The Live your Dream program gives Komatsu employees the chance to support a charity or organisation of their choice with a $10,000 donation. Scott Berry, Business Manager, Construction completed the ambitious task of riding from Brisbane to Sydney to support Lifestart, a not-for-profit committed to improving outcomes for children and young people living with disability.
Lifestart supported Scott’s family when his son Nathan was diagnosed on the Autistic Spectrum as a child. The organisation worked closely with Nathan to teach him many life skills, social skills and ways to integrate into the community.
“When my son was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, Lifestart really helped our family with understanding how to deal with the diagnosis, as well as speech and social situation help for Nathan. Now, he has progressed so much, is very independent, sociable and living a really fulfilled life, and I credit Lifestart with a lot of that progress,” Scott says.
“I have always wanted to push myself and see if I could do a long bike ride, and when this opportunity came up it rekindled my desire to tick this off the bucket list, while giving back to a cause close to home.”
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Scott started the bike ride in Brisbane at Komatsu’s Wacol branch on May 16, taking nine days to complete the 1,170km trek to Komatsu’s Fairfield branch in Sydney. On the last leg of his journey he was joined by Nick Vrontas and Paul Holland, two of his Komatsu colleagues, to help him over the line.
“The Live Your Dream program contributed $10,000, and we also set up a GoFundMe with Lifestart and raised an additional $6,733, which was amazing and unexpected. All funds will go to Lifestart so they can continue to provide free programs for families that help recognise and support the uniqueness and strengths of each child. Whether it’s speech pathologists, occupational therapists or behaviour practitioners, programs like this can profoundly change the course of a child’s life,” Scott says.
