 Media
Reports |
 THE
WEST AUSTRALIAN SATURDAY DECEMBER 14 1996
Wheel Of Fortune Given A SpinBy Gay McNamara (Originally In English) |
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This is the first in a series about people who go out of their way to help those in need.
DAVID BEAN will never forget the anger, frustration and loneliness of being a street kid - and the warmth he felt when, at the age of 15, he was taken under a stranger's wing.
Today, David, 32, his wife Hazel and their children Tamara, 13, and Anthony, 6, are giving something back, opening their hearts and their Stratton home to foster teenagers.
Real life angels
"You cry sometimes when things go wrong and something doesn't happen or a kid loses their way," he said. "It is hard. But these kids are our future and they deserve a fair go."
David gave up his $50,000-a-year job in the communications field because his employers would not give him time off on short notice when trouble struck at home.
Hazel, 32, earns half that amount, but her employer, Bunnings, shows the community spirit exemplified by the Beans.
David and his teenagers repair old bicycles donated by a North Perth shop and give them to children in the neighbourhood.
An automotive parts business offers part-time work for the teenagers and provides discounts which enable David and his young charges to fix cars for single parents and pensioners.
The Beans' open-door policy usually means a chaotic and full house, with their foster children's friends dropping in for a meal or even a bed for the night. Eight or nine people at the dinner table is not uncommon.
Testimony to their success is a 15-year-old boy who is soon to return home.
"His father is absolutely proud as punch," David said. "This kid would have been in jail or a crim by now but instead he's going back to school, loves his Dad, built himself a pushbike, got himself a job - a winner, and that's what it's all about.
"We've had some down times but the winners are the best part."
