By Cam Lucadou-Wells
She’s a surrogate and advocate, foster parent, mother of four.
Nursing student, kindergarten president and cricket team manager.
And yet, Amanda Meehan says there is still time to give more to the community.
The selfless powerhouse was announced as Greater Dandenong’s Citizen of the Year 2022 at a ceremony at Springvale Town Hall on 26 January.
“After going to the award ceremony and seeing all the wonderful things that community members are doing, I felt I was not doing enough.
“I will be exploring more ways to donate my time. Like at Palliative Care Australia – that’s something I could get something out of.
“I will be using this platform (as Citizen of the Year) as much as I can for the community to benefit them.”
Her journey as a surrogate in 2018 begun to help a dear school friend.
At Surrogacy Australia, she has since become an advocate and support for others on what is the “most extreme emotional roller-coaster”.
There’s tears, there’s elation, there’s the fight against natural hormones, the “craving for my baby”.
In Australia, surrogates are not allowed to be paid. For Ms Meehan, the payment is to watch the 4-year-old child grow up with her two fathers and be involved with their lives.
The ‘intended parents’ (IPs) need to be there as support for the surrogate mother who is “giving them this gift”.
Because of that “mutual respect”, she has plans to surrogate again this year to bring this family a second sibling.
“People need a lot of empowerment to stand up for yourselves.
“It’s OK to feel all the feelings. A lot of surrogates try to put on this act – I’ve made this choice so I’m not allowed to be sad.
“But if you’ve grown a baby inside you for 10 months, it’s a natural process to grieve.”
While studying for a nursing degree, Ms Meehan is also a foster parent, mother to four young children, president of Darren Reserve Kindergarten in Springvale South and volunteer at Silverton Cricket Club.
She’s been kindergarten president for more than 5 years, even after her own children left the centre.
With many parents too time-poor to help, at times the kinder was run by a committee of “one or two”, she says.
“Sometimes it’s the case that if I don’t do it, no one will.”
During her tenure, the centre has won a Government award for its transition to school programs. It runs programs for children on the autism spectrum and other special needs.
“We have a little tagline that everyone is welcome. We have such a wonderful staff and they all work really hard to maintain their connection with the children.”
At Silverton Cricket Club, Ms Meehan has been junior coordinator, team manager for her two daughters’ sides and social-media poster.
Her children love their time at the club, where they socialise with large ranks of junior players.
“I really believe in junior sport for that reason, especially in the pandemic when school has been online.”
Ms Meehan says there is “always time for the community”.
She achieves it by “bringing altruism into the home”, including her kids into all her “community efforts”.
“Sometimes things have to give, but I really enjoy it.”
