Dear Community;

The Mindd staff are happily settling into the change of season, feeling energised by the success of our 5th Mindd International Forum On Children.  We whole-heartedly thank all of our speakers, partners, delegates, volunteers and staff who helped in the collaboration to fast-track effective healthcare to our children.

Collaboration is at the heart of Mindd Foundation since our very first seminar in 2005 when an impassioned parent asked a willing Biomedical paediatrician to share the message of hope with other families.  The response to this first  seminar was overwhelming and from there Mindd Foundation has grown into 5 international conferences, 65 seminars, a highly-trafficked website and Youtube channel, a strong facebook following, a growing list of Mindd Chapters  and a 10,000 strong community of parents, teachers, practitioners, carers, media and more…

None of this could have taken place without the support of dozens of speakers and sponsors who share the knowledge and the vision to help tens of thousands of children struggling with a range of chronic illness.  As a direct result, there have been some very exciting changes in the level of awareness and activism with entrepreneurial parents creating healthful products, mothers revamping school canteens, practitioners educating their communities and media showing more interest in our children’s minds.

While much has progressed, some  key obstacles to effective healthcare  remain unchanged. Government remains in a state of confusion, General Practitioners remain uninformed about digestive and metabolic conditions impacting on our children's brains; and multinational businesses continue to turn strong profits from food, medicine and consumer products that are making our children sick.

The result is a global epidemic of childhood disease as reflected in Australian health trends over the past 20 years;

• Autism; nearly 1 in 100 Australian Children
• ADHD; 1 in 4 Australian Children
• Allergies; 1 in 3 Australian Children
• Cancer, diabetes, obesity and depression have more than doubled over the past 2 decades.*
• Wide-spread zinc, iodine and Omega 3 deficiencies also adversely impact on IQ and immunity.

• Autism; Autism ACT, B. Buckley, A4.
• Allergies; B. Hill, Australian Society of Clinical Immunology & Allergy Annual Conference, Nov 2003.
• ADHD & Mental Health; M. Sawyer, Australia & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2001

These are alarming health trends that require immediate action, not the slow response of Government nor the biased involvement of business.  The power is in the people.  It’s the collaboration between parents and integrative practitioners driving effective treatments .  This is very encouraging at a time when global events point to the power of the internet and social media to connect people and topple dictatorships.   And with so much research emerging on the impact of environment and nutrition on human health, the time could not be better.

Moving forward, our initiatives will aim to bring unbiased news and science to more families and practitioners through online marketing and education.  Education and collaboration are at the heart of our monthly e-news which will feature research, news, practitioners, products, recipes, books and services that contribute to effectively treating Mindd conditions including allergies, asthma, ADHD, Autism, depression, food sensitivities and a range of “brain-immuno-gut” disorders.

In this issue, we aim to present the power of biomedical intervention in preventing and treating illness as well as provide some tools to help you implement this.  World expert, Dr O’Hara highlights the importance of diet and supplementation, Nichola LeFroy shares an inspiring story of healing her son, our feature on Fructose offers important dietary advice  for everyone, our  smoothie recipe and wholefood powder provides a way to mix whole food nutrition with supplements,  and the  Vitamix offers a way to include the nutrition of the whole fruit and vegetable (seeds, shell and all) into your diet.

Our community shares an important understanding as to what our children are telling us about the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the lifestyle we choose and the ways in which we communicate with one another. 

Each of you can contribute by promoting  mindd.org  as well as our Youtube videos via facebook, newsletters and your community blogs.  And if everyone in our database collaborated by becoming a Mindd member, we could get our message out globally to millions of families in need!

Mindd Foundation belongs to all of us.  So let’s collaborate, communicate and educate.  

Health & Happiness,

Leslie Embersits

Director, Mindd Foundation

• Giving Mindd membership to someone special for the holidays
• Buying Mindd books or partner products as a holiday gift (wine, skin care, air and water filters)
• Inviting friends to become a Mindd member (forward this newsletter)

Mindd Foundation extends an enormous and heartfelt thank you to Victoria O'Neil and her committee of Tina Levy, Phoebe Malouf, Ben Mayo, Victoria O’Neil, Georgina Senes, Adriana Turner and Alexis Parszos for organising our most successful fundraiser to date!

This talented and professional group of friends put their passion into organising a fundraiser that raised nearly $92,697.00 with just 250 guests!

The evening exceeded everyone's expectations on every count; organisation, attendance, prizes, sponsors, décor, food AND presentations. More importantly, the committees generous and talented network of friends gave us a feeling of ongoing community support which is so vital to a non-profit.

The money raised helps make  it possible for Mindd to move into a Centre in Edgecliff, Sydney where we can offer much more community support in the way of health services, healthy home and personal care products, information, seminars and cooking classes.

Specifically, we will be focusing on helping children and their families access effective healthcare for both treatment and prevention. We will continue to offer support in treating a wide range of Metabolic, Immunologic,Neurologic, Digestive and Developmental conditions that often effect the mind including; ADHD, allergies, Autism, asthma, anxiety, depression, diabetes and mood, language & learning disorders.

Mindd Foundation's achievements have gone a long way to building a community that has successfully educated parents, trained clinicians and raised public awareness.

Thank you again for supporting Mindd Foundation to promote a healthcare paradigm that can help all Australian children reach their full potential.

Health & Happiness!
Leslie Embersits
Director, Mindd Foundation

In January of this year, with the guidance of Alexis Parszos from Mindd Foundation, Tina Levy, Phoebe Malouf, Ben Mayo, Victoria O'Neil, Georgina Senes and Adriana Turner formed a committee to arrange a party with the ambitious goal of raising $40,000 towards Mindd Foundation's Integrative Health Centre in Edgecliff.

First to come on board was Pages with an exceptional offer of a superb marquee and all its trappings, for FREE! This incredible gift from Pages made the event a success before it had even started. We are extremely grateful for your significant contribution which in itself constituted a large donation to Mindd Foundation.

Next to join us was the Royal Oak Hotel of Double Bay and Zilzie Wines who together donated the majority of the alcohol and Serena Sanderson Catering who provided the committee with an incredible deal on what was truly superb catering. We were astounded by the generosity we received from you, our sponsors and once again these substantial contributions allowed us to minimise our costs and maximise the funds raised. We were stunned by the readiness of all of you to give and spurred on by the excitement this generated.

We approached everyone we knew in business to donate items for the auction, raffle and lucky envelope prizes, the response was overwhelming as evidenced by the sheer number of prizes we had to offer. The auction items alone raised over $38,000, we are indebted to you all, the businesses and families who donated so generously. Furthermore we received numerous services and products for free for the event, including video editing, graphic design, musicians, banners and portable toilets – and who will ever forget the enthusiasm of Udo Edlinger as MC!

The turnout on the night blew us away! As the RSVP's rolled in we couldn't quite believe that more than 250 people had supported us by buying tickets to attend on the night, not to mention the donations we received in lieu of attendance. We are very grateful for the commitment you made to attend and participate in all the fundraising activities the night had to offer. Fundraising dollars are hotly contested these days and we are honoured that you donated to Mindd Foundation through our event.

In three short months the team produced a superb event and together with the generosity of sponsors, families and friends we doubled our expectations and raised $92,697.00!

To generate so much money from a crowd of 250 attendees is nothing short of amazing. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you who made this event the very special evening it was. The impact that it has had and the momentum and opportunities it has created represent a turning point for Mindd Foundation.

The result of your contributions to Mindd Foundation are both immediate and profound. Together we have helped to secure the future of a foundation committed to helping Australian children access effective integrative healthcare that can be profoundly life-changing.

Our wish is that when we throw the next party at least one parent who was introduced to Mindd as a result of our function, will add to Mindd’s many recovery stories.

Thank you so much for helping us to create this magical evening for Mindd Foundation, the excitement and goodwill on the night was electric!

Sincere Thanks,
Victoria O'Neil, Tina Levy, Phoebe Malouf, Ben Mayo, Georgina Senes, Adriana Turner and Alexis Parszos

Mindd Committee, 2012