(From the Standard Newspaper 31 August 2016)
DAVID Irving is many things to many people.
He is a disability carer at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), a student of South-West TAFE and to the south-west community he is now the 2016 Father of the Year.
Announced the overall winner of the Rotary Club of Warrnambool’s annual event on Wednesday, Mr Irving was taken aback by the newfound attention.
“This is pretty overwhelming and unexpected,” Mr Irving said
“I just want to make a difference to the girls.”
The girls Mr Irving refers to are sisters Emilee, Rhiannon and Courtney Mulready who lost both parents in 2013 just eight weeks apart.
“We moved to Nan and Pa’s house,” the girls said.
“It was very hard for us all and Nan also cared for Pa and worked part-time and did voluntary work as well – so she is very busy and needed help.
“David went to TAFE with our mum and was helping her with her TAFE work. When our parents died, Dave offered to help Nan care for us.
“Dave also works with people who have disabilities, so his experiences and training is helpful with our sister Emilee who has epilepsy and an intellectual disability.
“Unfortunately Dave does not have any children of his own, so he even went to some courses to learn to care for us and help us deal with some of our problems.
“He takes us to appointments at the doctor, physio, podiatrist and psychologist.
“He goes to school parent-and-teacher interviews. He takes us shopping, swimming, out for meals, to the park and the zoo.
“He tells us when we do something wrong and explains why, so it makes it easier for us to understand and learn.”
The girls’ grandmother Heather Mulready said the trio recently started calling Dave, ‘Dad’.
“Dave does all the things that any dad would do for his kids,” they said. “It feels great to call him Dad.”
Mr Irving’s prizes included a drillset from Bunnings and a framed certificate. The Mulready sisters received $250 from South West Credit Union and a weekend getaway in Melbourne.
Other winners were Leigh McNaughton, Jeff Hintum and Shane Keough.
The men were thanked for everything from park visits and ‘being handsome and friendly’, to lucky fishing trips and driving lessons.
Of the 1200 entries received for this year’s event, the Rotary Club of Warrnambool and Brophy organisers wanted children to know they were the “real winners”.
