By Justin Flynn
Works are well underway on the Tara’s Dream House project at Draper St, Ocean Grove.
The new nine-bedroom residence for people with special needs is named after Tara McGowan, who died in May 2015 as a result of an asthma attack aged just 23.
Tara’s Dream House is a combined effort between Karingal St Laurence and the Tara’s Dream Foundation and will offer 24-hour care and individual living.
The project is hoped to be finished by October this year.
Tara McGowan was into her third year of university studying to become a special needs teacher when she died.
“She would constantly look at some of the residents she was taking back to nursing homes who were under the age of 30 and she kept saying ‘dad, it’s not fair on them’,” Tara’s father Steve McGowan told the Voice.
Mr McGowan said the road to Tara’s Dream Home had been a long one, but worthwhile.
“I didn’t care where this was built anywhere in Australia,” he said.
“Karingal had just won the tender for the netball courts on Draper St and I nearly drove off the road.
“We live about a four-minute walk from there. To have this actually in Ocean Grove – it was almost like a message from Tara. It was meant to be.”
Mr McGowan said Tara would have been proud of the facility, which is being built by NHK Industries.
“She was doing so much good for everybody and she gave up so much of her life for others,” he said.
