WIGHT LIVINGTHERE was no way Jillie Wheeler would ignore a suggestion she could direct her considerable energy towards helping a children’s charity.
Jillie is profoundly hard of hearing and helping the Saturday Club for Deaf Children replace its vandal-damaged minibus was a cause that struck a real, highly personal, chord.
Jillie is an extrovert sort of a woman.
She took that sparkling, jitterbug, personality on stage, where she sang and entertained in earlier life with her now — sadly departed — husband, Frank.
But now, in her later years, she knows from personal experience the social isolation deafness can bring — and she wanted to help a club that helps children deal with that.
“The quality of my social life is now very limited. It is particularly frustrating that I can’t hear music or go to the theatre but the one thing I can do is raise money and that gives me immense pleasure,” said Jillie.
She is lucky she has one of the most powerful tools in the fundraising box at her disposal — Cassie, the jet-black nine-year-old pedigree German shepherd.
Cassie is one lucky dog.
Not only has she an owner who loves her to bits but she has been patted and stroked an estimated 200,000 times in her nine years, each petting netting a donation to charity.
She is a Pat Dog, people putting donations in her collection box in return for being allowed to make a fuss of her
The pair have gone out, rain and shine, and have now raised more than £20,000 for the new minibus.
Saturday Club members were devastated in the summer when their minibus windows were smashed and £2,000 of equipment stolen in Portsmouth.
Jillie and Cassie’s tireless effort not only raise cash but awareness, too, of deafness disability. Perhaps, more importantly, it underlines to the youngsters what can be achieved despite profound handicap.
Helen Foster founded the Saturday Club 36 years ago and she knows from family experience and a working lifetime teaching youngsters with hearing impairment, just how difficult it is for Jillie.
“People do not realise Jillie probably cannot hear them when they chat away to her and she has to develop all sorts of strategies to deal with that.
“But for the children to see how Jillie manages is wonderful, she is a true role model.
“We are only a small charity, organised by a group of extremely loyal people, and we have to bid against other good causes for ever less available money.
“We also work very hard for our own living, raising a large proportion of the money ourselves, and to have Jillie come to our aid is truly fantastic in more senses than one.
“People who cannot hear run the risk of being ignored, and, to combat that, children need something of interest to talk about.
“And they will make that effort to communicate when they talk about their trips in the minibus and their weekly craft social gatherings.
“It helps them develop the communication skills they need.”
They will have plenty to talk about if recent club events are anything to go by.
There was Greece, skiing and a visit to holiday centre Sandy Balls, in the New Forest, to name but a few.
And to help support their own activities, the youngsters take part in sponsored events, they pack shoppers’ bags at supermarkets, recycle mobile phones and ink cartridges and much more besides, communicating what the club does for its 36 members on its website.
Jillie may find it very hard to piece together what people say but she uses considerable communication skills to deliver her message, aided by her rock, as she describes Cassie the wonderdog.
So effectively has she delivered it at one of her regular haunts, the Warner Bembridge Coast Hotel, that she received a donation that both took her breath away and completed her fundraising mission in one fell swoop.
“A year ago I met the treasurer of a charity called the Golfing Dreamers.
“He was so impressed with the work of the Saturday Club, and what Cassie and I had collected for them, that he sent £1,000 to Helen Foster. Last week I received another cheque for £1,000 from him. I almost burst into tears,” said Jillie.
That is just one example of just how effective Jillie and Cassie are as a fundraising double act, having now raised £26,000 for the hospice. That includes £12,000 contributed to Cassie’s Wheels, which is a customised, all-weather vehicle used by the Hospice at Home team.
Add to that the money for the Saturday Club’s children’s minibus and more than £6,000 for animal charities, brings the total to around £54,000 since the pair started when Cassie was but a pup.
Jillie had been delighted when now retired ear, nose and throat consultant Peter Grimaldi, who is the president of the Saturday Club, and used to treat her ears, suggested the club as a fundraising target for her considerable energies.
Jillie said: “When he asked if Cassie and I would help the Saturday Club for Deaf Children, of course I agreed.
“I know how isolated one can feel — particularly as no-one can ‘see’ the problem.”
Reporter: richardw@iwcpmail.co.uk
Members of the Saturday Club for Deaf Children meet tireless fundraisers Jillie Wheeler and her dog, Cassie, front right. Picture by Laura Holme.