it’s Lee-Anne

it’s Lee-Anne… this amazing lady works, lives & plays within our community & has done so for decades. Yep, Lee-Anne’s a local, she’s a selfless champion with a beautiful heart & we’re all really lucky to have her. We have our very own trailblazer who is dedicated to making a real difference to others experiencing tough times. She’s also putting her money where her mouth is by shining a light on homelesnness & embarking on a truly epic challenge all while raising awareness & much needed dollars!!

This is a story of how at the end of the day we are all people & we all have a responsibility to look out for one another.

Lee-Anne found a passion for running & in the process is impacting so many lives for the better.

So, let’s go back a little to get the full story. Lee-Anne remembers, “my friend’s dog got loose on the beach and another really big scary dog was running at it… & I thought it was going to end quite badly, so I ran to intervene. As it turned out the other big dog was quite friendly… but running was actually quite a joyous experience. It felt good to run, so the next morning I walked back to Semaphore & ran from Semaphore to Largs & then thought, I want to know more! I’m a City of Port Adelaide Enfield Librarian so I borrowed every book I could find about running & researched & researched & that was it… I was hooked after that, I just loved it. It's a big passion of mine to run, it keeps me physically healthy & mentally healthy. I’m an introvert and I have lots of children & I work in a community space so it's the time I get to be by myself & I go running at stupid hours. I run from 4.30 am till 8 o’clock sometimes… so I get to see the world waking up and coming to life and it's a really beautiful time of the day to be out and about.” 

Lee-Anne has been a runner for about seven years now & she has been playing with the idea of a really long challenging run.

While Lee-Anne hits the pavement on her early morning runs she also comes across a side of our community that is not seen by many. She lets us know, “I come across a lot of people who are sleeping rough because at the time of the day I’m out, I think they are far more visible & it's also quite obvious how vulnerable they are at that time. I quite often say hello or check in with people, especially ones that I see regularly and I've had really positive experiences.” 

Going back two summers ago, Lee-Anne remembers times that put a real fire in her belly to not just sit back & watch but to take action… Lee-Anne shares,”I stopped to render first aid three seperate times to people who obviously needed medical assistance. The third time was actually a tiny little indigenous man, he was unconscious on the corner of Commercial Road & St Vincent Street. There was a fair bit of traffic there & I didn’t quite realise what I was coming across as I was running towards him, but as I got closer I figured out what was happening. I pulled him up onto the footpath & while I was doing that, I put him in the recovery position, while trying to work out what other assistance I could give before going & getting help. While I was doing that I realised that there were people right there that could help but they deliberately were looking everywhere else, so they didn’t have to help. They didn’t even help when I was assisting. That would have been a natural point to intervene as well, but they still didn’t. It really highlighted to me this kind of pervasive idea that somehow people who are homeless or experiencing homelessness are somehow responsible for their circumstances or that they are bad people or dangerous people. That's not okay & I was furious, I was so cross!! I’m not a celebrity, I don’t have a lot of influence about what happens around me, apart from my vote at election time… so I figured if I wanted to spark dialogue around this it had to be something really big & as far as I know (& I could be wrong) there hasn't been another woman who has run from Adelaide to Melbourne. So that was the trigger… that was the moment, I went home & said to my children… I'm running to Melbourne!! I don't think my younger ones really quite understand it, they understand the reasoning and rationale, they are very compassionate and empathetic people. My older ones definitely understand the enormity of the event but the little one’s not so much.”

Running from Adelaide to Melbourne is an enormous task, but when you understand ‘why’ Lee-Anne is taking on the challenge head first, it’s clear to see this is about how she can contribute to our community & how she can make a real difference. Lee-Anne lets us know… “So I'm raising money for the Hutt St Centre, Catherine House & St Vinnies Fred’s Van. So when I first came up with this concept there were two parts to it… one was to hopefully spark a national dialog on homelessness & how it happens & to change those preconceived ideas people have around those who are experiencing homelessness & to encourage people to act with kindness to every individual that they come across & genuinely engage with them. You are not going to solve all of their problems by being friendly but you certainly improve their wellbeing by doing so. The second part was to raise funds for organisations that are at the forefront & actually doing the emergency relief work. I can't say that I knew a lot about the organisations that work in that space, so I sent emails off to everyone saying this is what I’m thinking of doing, could you please tell me what it is that you do, who is your targeted group, who do you support & are there any major projects that you currently require funding for & so on. Lots of them got back to me and then I had to select which ones I really wanted to support. Then I actually went & spent time at each of the three organisation, so I could get a better understanding.” 

This isn’t just a run around the block that Lee-Anne is embarking on & she’s been hard at it training for 18 months before the big run, she explains, “it's not just running you can't just run-train for an event like this or you will just end up with a lot of injuries. So I do a lot of swimming, I spend a lot more time than I like in the gym. I have a fabulous yoga teacher that I adore & I also have a really good chiropractor who I see a couple of times a week… he puts me back together again & then obviously running. On the days that I run, I run up to 3.5 hours before work and go home & get us all organised for school and work & then start my day & then quite often I train in the evenings as well.” 

Lee-Anne has a busy home and is lucky that they are all very supportive of her, she explains, “I’ve got 4 biological children & I also do some foster care. I don't have any foster children with me right now while I’m training because it's just too time-consuming. I’m a single parent but I have met a lovely chap but he's in the military so he actually doesn’t live in South Australia at the moment, but we are trying to organise for him to come here… we are engaged to be married.”

Behind every epic challenge is an awesome support crew & it’s no different with Lee-Anne who lost much of her hearing & learnt how to lip read after a bout of measles, she explains, “my dog ‘Aoife’ is my running companion, she will be in the support van most of the way but she can run up to 30 km in a day quite happily, she’s a Border Collie. She's normally off leash and she knows that if we come across a person she has to stop & walk so she is very well behaved.

Aoife is 18 months old and I've had her since she was eight weeks old, she came over from Kangaroo Island and the plan was she would be my hearing assistance dog but she's actually very shy and I am also very shy… so apparently I spread that to the temperament of my pets! So, she might need to do some temperament adjustment but otherwise she can just be my hearing dog at home rather than everywhere else. She lets me know if there’s someone at the door, if I put my phone down & it rings or if the children are calling out.” Lee-Anne also has a good friend doing the whole journey for support & also as a dog handler.

When you speak to Lee-Anne you can see the passion in her eyes. She is an extraordinary person who is making big things happen. Let’s all get behind her & show her some real community spirit! Lee-Anne wanted to leave everyone with this… 

“ it would really be good to leave whatever preconceived ideas you have around the homeless behind you & engage with the person in front of you in a genuine and empathetic sense.

Our family has taken people in, especially teenagers my children knew who we discovered were sleeping rough, we opened our home to them… & they lived with us for 7 months or a year & a half or whatever. You can't do that for every person that you meet, but you can make eye contact & you can smile & you can say hello & you can check in or you can make a comment about the weather or anything just so that they don't feel invisible & they don't feel less human than anybody else or less valued than anybody else because they have equal right to the space. 

I'm not religious at all, but I do really like that principle of treating others as you would want to be treated. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to think about what your experiences would be if you didn’t have a home, or if your children were in those circumstances. I genuinely believe that everybody who has the capacity has the responsibility to care for others.”

Let’s get behind Lee-Anne & show her some community love!!

Please click here Pup & Girl to like & follow her Facebook page, follow her journey, send her your words of encouragement & you also have the option if you would like to donate through here facebook page to her go fund me account.

Our community is right behind you Lee-Anne, ‘love ya work’ with all that you’re doing to give others a helping hand up & we can’t wait to see you cross the finish line!!