First time mothers and those who’ve had years to adjust to family life, celebrated Mother’s Day in Orange on Sunday.
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Rebecca Price celebrated her first Mother’s Day with her first child, a son named Tyran William Cain, who entered the world at 1.49am on Sunday.
He was the first baby to be born at the Orange maternity ward on the day.
The day was also a special one for Pay It Forward founding director Karlie Irwin as well as Mel Flannery.
Mrs Irwin, who has six children, five girls and a boy aged 25, 21, 20, 19, 16 and 15, spent 15 years as a foster carer.
She is also now a grandmother to children aged from five years to four months with another on the way.
“[Mother’s Day] gives you an opportunity to really appreciate what’s really important. For me it’s that I’ve raised them well, it’s an achievement,” Mrs Irwin said.
“I’ve been a single mother and it can be very challenging.”
Mrs Irwin said life experiences, coming from a background of abuse and neglect and having been on her own since the age of 14, made her want to be a good mother and she valued watching her daughters become mothers.
Single mother Mel Flannery is also heavily involved in Pay It Forward and is setting up the organisation’s crisis accommodation while raising six children aged 19, 16, 15, 10, eight and five.
“I’ve got five boys and one girl so as you can imagine it’s a pretty rough and tumble household,” she said.
“I’ve been a single mum for maybe nine years and it’s days like this that you get to stop for five minutes and sit and look back at yourself and really appreciate [being a mother].”
Ms Flannery was also inspired by her background when it came to her role at Pay It Forward and said she grew up in a loving, stable environment and was inspired by her late mother, who was a nurse with the Salvation Army.
Although the two women had different backgrounds they are both domestic violence survivors who have drawn on their life experiences to shape the Pay It Forward organisation, which is for all people in need in the community including mothers and women escaping domestic abuse.
The women also hope their work is making them good role models for their children, who they want to follow in their footsteps.
Tanya Marschke
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
I am based at Orange and cover a wide range of subjects as well as the weekly business column. I've worked consistently in the the media industry since 2006 including the past seven years at the Central Western Daily. Before moving to Orange, I worked as a journalist at weekly newspapers the Beaudesert Times and the Gold Coast Sun in Queensland, as well as the Scone Advocate in the Hunter Valley. I started my career at the Ridge News in Lightning Ridge while I completed my journalism studies remotely at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst.
