Where There’s A Will
We are also known as Willo and we have a clear purpose. To inspire and influence inclusion for people who live with intellectual challenges …. through connection.
People with intellectual challenges constitute a group at very high risk of exclusion at a community level. They are often denied opportunities to fully participate in the activities of their communities because they are seen as not able: they are seen as disabled.
Willo inspires artists and community members to paint cricket bats that have been refurbished by people living with intellectual challenges. These communities are brought together through cricket and art, realised through cricket bat art exhibitions.
The exhibitions create an opportunity to connect which has the potential to change individual behaviours and perceptions of inclusion at all levels in the community.
100% of funds raised from the exhibitions create community owned, community driven and community managed services for “all abilities” in the community. A place for people to feel they truly belong and a place they feel they can connect, learn and be supported by and with their community.
Willo has lived just this experience for 24 years and we understand that belongingness; our connection to our friends and our community, is a fundamental human emotional need.
Willo believes we can inspire and influence inclusive behaviour towards those with intellectual challenges, through connection, one person at a time. If we can change the behaviour of individuals then we can change the behaviour of communities. Where There’s a Will … there is always a way.
A Current Affair
“The Last Over” 5th December 2021
Paive io
“People Inspiring People” October 2019
How to be a Willo Artist
Creating a piece of artwork on a cricket bat is open to anyone who would like to work with Willo. There are no rules or restrictions and the bat will be supplied by Willo ready to paint.
You don’t need to be an artist… you simply need to want to be involved and have an interest in making a difference.
You may know someone who would love to paint, either way let us know and we will send you a bat meticulously refurbished by our team throughout Australia.
Please contact us to register your interest.
How to be a Willo Community
Willo is now working across Australia to unite communities and raise more awareness around intellectual disabilities and inclusion.
The Willo Community is a collection of artists within a community who want to support the cause. Each artist is given a bat refurbished by Willo and his team. They have the option to paint or create some artwork and the bat is put into an Exhibition conducted in the community.
There is an organiser who we liaise with and they are the contact point to communicate and help organise the exhibition. If you would like to be a Willo Community please contact us.
How to send us your bats
We source the second hand bats from schools, cricket clubs, privately and through communities.
We have a drop off station at the International Cricket Hall of Fame in Bowral, and bats can also be picked up anywhere throughout Australia.
Any old bats will be welcomed and bats that have been left in sheds and unused or potentially to be thrown out will be recycled and given a beautiful new purpose and home.
If you would like to send us a bat directly please contact us.
The Last Over
Due to the overwhelming response from cricket clubs throughout Australia to the A Current Affair story in January 2021, Willo will be encouraging clubs to adopt The Last Over. The concept of the Last Over began in 2013 with Will playing cricket in a way that suited his abilities and opened the way to a lifelong love and participation of the game.
An additional over was added to the end of the game every Saturday in the cricket season and both teams and spectators came onto the field to play together with Will. He bowled or batted and participated in a way that suited his abilities which were accepted, understood and celebrated by the club and players. It opened the minds of the players about their perception of intellectual disability which inevitably, changed their behaviour towards Will.
The Last Over is an opportunity for every cricket club throughout Australia to include players who would not get to play consistently during the annual cricket season. It is a starting point for inclusion and importantly, for relationships to form. The Last Over offers a platform for connection and mateship.
With more than 3,778 cricket clubs across Australia, The Last Over would seamlessly offer a very simple and accessible pathway for inclusion and connection. If every club in Australia found just one Will Clarke in their community, there would be 3,778 more Australians living with intellectual disabilities participating and playing regularly and feeling connected, feel a sense of belonging and ultimately find a place of authentic inclusion.
It would also offer approximately 450,000 players across Australia a way to build a relationship with all the Wills in their community.
WILLO MOMENTS
A Man of Influence
On the 18th January 2021 Will was listed in the 20 Most...
Inclusion
When our story went to air on the 5th December this year...
Simon Bouda and ACA
We have been sharing Wills Last Over at cricket on...
Robertson Community Garden
The Robertson Community Garden project was first tabled as...
The Australian Navy takes Willo to the Middle East
We met Commodore Chris Smallhorn and his wife Kerina from...
Willo goes to London House
Our amazing exhibition, Warooka Bats for Will, brought...
Our family has been advocating for people who are most often excluded and isolated from their communities for many years.
Will has given us a deep feeling and sense of understanding and awareness of this extraordinary cultural situation. Through his experiences I have come to understand that what is stopping the general community from being more inclusive ... is simply a lack of ways to connect and an understanding of how to connect.
Over the past four and half years we have spoken with thousands of people within communities to talk about the ignorance and fear surrounding disability and what makes it so hard to accept our many differences. It is through these talks and sharing of our truths that we begin to create solutions that inevitably open up ways of connecting to something we never knew how.
If we consistently put our children, family members and friends into programs places and services that are isolated from their communities then we will continue to have the same results we are getting...... exclusion and ignorance. What I mean by this is it should be the norm to see and connect with disability of any kind in our streets, our shops and our sporting and cultural services without question or fear.
Disability like many mental health conditions can be tough to live with let alone be isolated and judged. I think it is so much easier to take the higher road and try... just try to accept all differences without always placing our personal needs first.
Lean into the discomfort of the visual, the behaviour and the silence that is often associated with disability.... because on the other side is warmth, love, kindness, happiness, lack of ego and judgement and a desire to be accepted.
Just as we all want.
To be accepted included and seen.
I assure you .. you will be the one who benefits 💚
.
.
#inclusion #acceptance #community #iknowwill #thelastover
I have known for a very long time that Will has the ability to influence and change peoples lives.
As the inspiration behind Willo he however .. has no intention to influence. He is simply being Will.
Will has essential qualities that seamlessly connect with others. Those qualities are kindness, love, a lack of ego, wholeheartedness, resilience and persistence. There is truth in his behaviour and a genuine spirit, He is gentle and authentic. He doesn’t judge .. he uses his intuition, the heart. He waits his turn, he hugs without return of favour, he fits in and shows an incredible depth of selflessness.
He is influential because he behaves in a way that we all admire and watch, but often times cannot be. He lives life by example and inadvertantly reminds people to be more understanding and caring. He shows people that he can .. because he has to .. live with so few choices. He silently and quietly hopes we will all sacrifice something, be more patient, give more of our time so that someone less able or more vulnerable can have more choice .. which they so desperately need.
He is showing what community could look like if we all stopped to take notice and be more present.
Will is influential because he is making a difference to people lives. His family, his friends, his team mates, to strangers and now the world that has come to see his face as the inspiration behind Where There’s a Will.
#inspire #change #iknowwill #bunburybatsforwill #heyfieldbatsforwill @bunburybatsforwill
Bunbury Bats for Will
Created cricket bats by ...
.
@stephballphoto Warooka Southern Yorke Peninsular SA
@jollygoodstufffromiansshed Bunbury WA
@bunburybatsforwill cricket bat art
Exhibition October 16 2021
The Fuller Co+Op
Bunbury
If you’d like to be a Willo artist in support of the Bunbury and surrounds community... send us a message 💚
.
@nenemitchellart QLD @the_felting_pot_studio WA @shawnardoinart Hawaii @randyresin WA
.
.
.
#worldart #art #cricket #iknowwill #artist
Congratulations to Wills cousin Till Raynolds. Back to back winner of the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic. Australia’s oldest and longest one day cycling race and the world’s second oldest and longest one day cycling race!!
Amazing Till 💚💚💚
.
.
@matildaraynolds @specialized_au @visitmelbourne @visitwarrnambool #proud #of #you #sweetheart
Where There’s A Will Ltd
ABN 14 634 182 497
Registered Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR)
44 May Street
Robertson NSW 2578
P: +61 2 427 110 968
E: hello@wheretheresawill.org.au
