Planting the Seed for Something Great

When Aiden and Renee Lamberth lost their daughter Scarlett last year to a rare illness, they knew they wanted to do something to keep the memory of their daughter alive.

They had received so much support from Gateway Baptist Church over the months Scarlett was in hospital including counselling and hot meals.

However, many of the other parents they met at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital didn’t have such support.

It was there the idea for a parents’ bereavement counselling service and support group began.

Gateway Counselling Centre Coordinator Marcia Watts says she saw the Carinity Innovations Grants and realised they could use it to start the program while a Foundation for ongoing support was developed.

“We were so excited we were literally jumping around the place when we received the grant. We had our first client come through in October and the support group has started,” Marcia says.

Founders of the Scarlett May Foundation, Aiden and Renee Lamberth say the grant gave them breathing room to develop a long-term sustainability plan.

“We had so many ups and downs and we weren’t really sure what we were doing so the grant gave us the ability to start helping people right away while still establishing the Foundation,” Renee says.

“We officially launched the Scarlett May Foundation on 10 October and I ran 53km from Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital to Wellington Point and back to the Gateway Baptist Church in Mackenzie to raise funds,” Aiden says.

“We always knew we wanted it to be something big and thanks to Carinity, we can give parents the help they need,” Renee says.

Photo: Scarlett May Foundation co-founders Aiden and Renee Lamberth, Ontrack Ministries Coordinator Robyn Bellen and Gateway Counselling Centre Coordinator Macia Watts.

This story appeared in the December 2015 Issue of Belong. Read More.