One of the Whitsundays’ newest community organisations celebrated its first birthday last week, inviting in locals for a celebration which also acted as the official opening of its services to the wider region.
Stella Life Care held the anniversary at its premises on Herbert Street, Bowen, commemorating the occasion as well as the hard work of its almost 20 staff and volunteers whilst keeping an eye to its future.
The company first launched as a disability and aged care support service with the earnest goal of helping the community overall – a challenge those it helps would agree it has certainly risen to.
Basing itself in Bowen, Stella Life Care formed on February 1, 2022, and quickly imbedded itself as one of the towns most valued altruistic organisations.
CEO of Stella Life Care Faileen James said she and her husband Bruce initially arrived in the Whitsundays on holiday when she saw the “genuine need” of the community for a service like Stella Life.
“We did not want to just create an area where only people who are disadvantaged or have a disability or are aged could gather; we wanted to create a space where all the community felt they could be welcome,” Mrs James said.
“As part of that, those people who are disadvantaged, elderly, or disabled can receive the services which they need. Everybody here today makes up Stella Life Care. We could not do what we do without the support of everybody in this room.
“You have all been a part of our journey.”
Mrs James said over their first year of operation that many of their clients come to Stella at their wits end, ready to give up in applying for benefits they are “actually entitled to” but the “bureaucracy is just too much for them.”
The ceremony was attended by dignitaries from several of Bowen’s community groups alongside clients and Whitsunday Mayor Julie Hall, who said it was “an absolute honour to be asked along to launch Stella Life officially and I wish them a happy, happy birthday.”
“They have already been a shining star in our community,” Mayor Hall said.
“It is very exciting that Stella is celebrating its first year of providing a broad range of services to create positive change in the Whitsundays.”
Stella Life Care’s first ever client, Kay Smith, said without the organisations help, she would never be able to live independently.
“I have had eight strokes, a major heart operation, diabetes, and Stella Life has given me more independence than I could have believed I could have,” Ms Smith said.
“My family isn’t here [in Bowen], so Stella Life are my family.”
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