Today, we spotlight Jacquie Johnstone, a PhD candidate with a background in design and information technology. She collaborated on the Inclusive Makervan, a mobile makerspace co-designed for, and with, people with intellectual disabilities. This project was nominated as a finalist in the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards.

Our Community Spotlight this month is Beau Vernon, a Paralympian who is passionate about his family, creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and any sport he can get involved in. Beau was one of our Need-Knowers in 2017, and we caught up with him to hear more about his recent achievements.

After working at TOM: Melbourne for 18 months, Narelle provides an update on the strategic decisions and areas of work that will help us support our community.

Our Community Spotlight this month is Sarah Macdonald, the CEO of Canine Comprehension. Canine Comprehension is an animal-assisted therapy program that supports students with their learning and mental health.

In this month's Community Spotlight, we are shining a light on one of our Need-Knowers, Stella Rose Carew. Stella participated in the September 2022 Makeathon. She came to the program seeking a way to wash her dishes independently. Stella valued being listening to and involved throughout the process. 

This month’s community spotlight features Bianca Stern, General Manager of All Things Equal. All Things Equal is a not-for-profit social enterprise that exists to bridge the gap between people with a disability and the wider community through purposeful training and award-wage employment.

This month's community spotlight features Madeleine Buchner OAM, the founder and CEO of Little Dreamers. Little Dreamers provides support for young people acting as carers for a family member. Madeleine's first-hand experience as a young carer spurs her on to nurture the wellbeing and education of others who do the same.

Our first community spotlight for 2023 features Jacinta Oakley, a User Experience Consultant at Vision Australia and who has also participated in the last two Makeathons with us. Jacinta was most recently a Maker on Team Matt.

This month's community spotlight features Michael Macris, who recently participated as a Maker at our September 2022 Makeathon. Michael is an avid maker who has explored work as a design engineer through building recycling machines and designing hydrogen trucks. 

This month's community spotlight features Qianya Zhao who volunteered at our most recent Makeathon event. Qianya is a student at Monash University, and is also a volunteer for the Monash Young Medtech Innovators (MYMI). 

Meet Desiree Riny, this month's community spotlight, who participated as a Maker in our September Melbourne Makeathon. Desiree is an Industrial Designer who has been involved with TOM since 2019. 

This month, our community spotlight features Matthew Butler, Associate Professor at the Department of Human-Centred Computing at Monash University, where we are holding our upcoming Makeathon in September.

This month's community spotlight is Mo Tanida. Mo is currently studying a double degree in Product Design Engineering and International Business at Swinburne University. He shares his experience as a participant of the TOM @ University program this year.

This month, we're featuring John Dardaganis in our community spotlight. John participated in our 2021 Makeathon as a Maker on Team Charlie.

This month's community spotlight features Stephen Kelly, who has been an avid participant of our TOM Makeathon programs, first as a Need-Knower in 2019, and then as a Maker in the Ballarat regional Makeathon that same year.

Our monthly spotlight features Sarah van der Schans. Sarah is studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) with a major in Product Design - and first engaged with TOM: Melbourne for our 2021 Makeathon on Team Charlie.

This month we're spotlighting Mark Strachan, lecturer in Industrial Design, Product Design Engineering and Product Service Systems at Swinburne University of Technology. This year, Mark is teaching Design Engineering students participating in our TOM@University program.

This month our community spotlight is on Ellie Moskow, who completed an internship with TOM: Melbourne in 2021 and continues as a member of the TOM: Melbourne team. 

This month we touched base with Helen and Brenton, who participated as Need-Knowers in this year's Makeathon, to find out about their experience of being involved in the Makeathon, as well as to find out how Brenton is getting on.

This month we're featuring Tia Stewart, an Occupational Therapist currently working in Special Education. Tia specialises in Aquatic Therapy and recently participated in our TOM Makeathon as a Maker on Team Charlie.

This month, our community spotlight features Samuel Pinches, a Chemical Engineering graduate who participated in our most recent Makeathon. For Sam, his passion lies in making and designing things in his spare time.

This month we’re putting the spotlight on Engineer and 2021 TOM: Melbourne Makeathon participant, Yow Wai Tham. Yow Wai graduated as a Mechanical Engineer and developed a career designing medical devices and automotive automatic transmissions. 

This month we’re putting the spotlight on George Chen, a Software Developer and 2019 Maker who participated in our regional Ballarat Makeathon.

This month we’re spotlighting Alicia Chong, a paediatric occupational therapist and Maker for Team Brenton. Discover more about how Alicia heard about TOM: Melbourne and her experience participating in the Makeathon.

This month, we're spotlighting TOM: Melbourne's Education Programs Coordinator, Taylah Hill, as she shares her experience participating as a Need-Knower for Kaspar and his team of Makers.

This month, our spotlight is on Anna Scholten and her son, Charlie, who will be Need-Knowers at our upcoming Makeathon. Anna also works with a team providing meaningful employment to people with disability at the new cafe, All Things Equal, in Balaclava, Melbourne.

Introducing 2019 TOM Maker, Sing Le. We recently caught up with Sing to find out more about his experience participating in TOM: Melbourne’s Ballarat Makeathon, and what unique product he is currently developing.

This month we're thrilled that we were able to connect past Need-Knower, Amy Marks and current TOM Need-Knower Ambassador & Disability Resource Centre for Advocacy (DRC) Chairperson, Mary Henley-Collopy.

This month we're spotlighting Hans Mestizo, who participated as a Maker in the 2019 TOM: Melbourne Makeathon. He worked as part of an incredible team to help Joanne, an individual with poor motor control, to easily and independently brush her teeth.

This month we're spotlighting Amy, who participated in the 2017 Makeathon and the 2018 Developer Groups as a Need-Knower. She is now working on the National Youth Disability Summit at CYDA - Children and Young People with Disability Australia.