Donate to support children with autism
Please help us rebuild our Townsville Centre.
Without your help our children’s critical therapy risks delay. Early intervention is crucial to children with autism getting the best start in life.
Everything was lost in the fire. Every donation will be gratefully received.
A devastating fire destroyed AEIOU’s Townsville centre on 23 March 2024. We urgently need your help to recover.
Our CEO Alan Smith received a shocking phone call on Saturday 23 March this year, from Townsville emergency services apologising for not being able to save our AEIOU centre in a devastating fire.
It was an absolute shock that came out of nowhere. Thankfully no children or staff were onsite during the incident. The immediate concern was searching for a facility so our children could continue to receive their early intervention therapy.
The operations had to shut down for over a week – while the team frantically searched for a suitable space. Thankfully the Townsville community rallied together and Billy Lids Preschool generously offered a room for our children to continue their critical therapy.
We are so grateful for their support and slowly our families and staff are coming to terms with the whole ordeal. However, our children and families have suffered from this fire and the effects will be longer term than we think.
Townsville centre burnt down by fire
We need your URGENT HELP to recover following the devastating fire destroying AEIOU’s Townsville centre on 23 March 2024.
AEIOU is a specialist provider of therapy and education for children with autism. As you can imagine, our staff and community have been shocked by the fire.
The children and their families are devastated by the sudden loss of their school.
We need your help to recover from this fire, so we can continue to give our children with autism the best start in life.
Help us rebuild our Townsville centre and allow us to access critical educational tools and resources. Our children need these for their early intervention therapy right now.
Fabian Jr Balundo just donated $10.55- MOHAMMAD AURANGZEB KHAN just donated $20.80
- Glen Challenor just donated $31.65
- Illume Group just donated $1,500
- Ange Milligan just donated $1,020
- Anonymous just donated $100
- Anthony Morton just donated $10,520
- Anonymous just donated $20
- Bernadette Sue just donated $52.75
- NIGEL MOSER just donated $211
- Anonymous just donated $515
- Merv McNee just donated $131.88
- MOHAMMAD AURANGZEB KHAN just donated $21.10
- Anonymous just donated $52.75
- Anonymous just donated $382.96
- Anonymous just donated $500
- Ray Kerr just donated $400
- Anonymous just donated $150
- Stewart Walters just donated $105.50
- Anthony Keane just donated $52.75
A message from our Centre Manager, Emma Newham
I’m Emma, the AEIOU Centre Manager at Townsville. I can’t believe that our centre was burnt down to the ground on Saturday 23 March. It’s a date that’s going to be etched in my brain for a while!
I received a phone call on Saturday and was just so shocked an upset to hear about the fire, and the fact that all of it was gone, nothing was saved. It was just so sudden it was hard to comprehend.
When I started to get over the initial upset and fright, I swung into action. I wanted to make sure all the families were contacted and reassured that we would continue our service, somehow and somewhere. Although we didn’t know when we would be re-opening I just knew we had to find a solution for our children.
Our early intervention therapy for our children is so critical, it was just so important that we get back up operating as soon as possible for our kids.
Nothing could be saved in the fire
The Townsville centre was completely gutted by the fire and everything inside was lost. All of the toys, educational resources and therapy tools have been destroyed.
Most educational resources for children with autism are handmade. Each one is personalised for each of the children that we support here at Townsville.
On average, AEIOU’s therapy resources cost around $125 to make. But that doesn’t compensate for the months and years of individual observation and care, or the hours that went into creating these personalised resources for each child’s specific needs.
We’ve been able to support the children from another centre – but we need to re-make all of their individual therapy aids.
Everything was lost in the fire. Our team urgently need your help.
