AfterwardsThe first HAA celebration
So Much Inspiration In One Room
Seven weeks after flying home, the first HAA celebration brought speakers, music, supporters and a very large collection of donated prizes together at East Fremantle Yacht Club.
About seven weeks after flying home from Brisbane, we held an HAA afternoon tea celebration at East Fremantle Yacht Club.
The plan was to fill the afternoon with speakers, entertainment, food, a raffle and a silent auction. It came together in a fairly short time, largely because Norita and Shaun of Ecstatique took on the huge job of making it happen.
Norita had stepped in during my first week back from Brisbane. She and Shaun promoted the event, worked on getting people through the door, found businesses willing to donate prizes, dealt with the venue, set everything up and then cleared it all away afterwards. They kept me informed while handling a level of work and stress that I probably only partly understood at the time.
Michele Alexander, Katy Duffield and Phil Britten all donated their time as guest speakers. Any one of them could have been the main speaker at an event, and we had all three in the same room.
Phil also sold copies of his books and donated 100 per cent of the sales to HAA.
Fleur Allen gave up her afternoon to MC the whole thing and rocked it. Peter Liddicoat was behind the camera, recording the event so it could be shared with people who could not be there.
There was music too. Erik Esma performed two original songs, while Jen Banks played violin as people arrived and mingled. I had first met Jen completely by chance while I was on marshal duty at parkrun and she was out walking her dog.
Carlo Guzzi helped with copywriting and Rosie Sandars designed the flyer. Local businesses supplied an overwhelming collection of raffle prizes and silent-auction items. Katy helped with the table settings, while Zee and Melissa helped people find their seats.
It was a room full of people giving their time, skills, products and energy to HAA.
The fundraising did not reach the heights I had envisaged, but the event had longer-term benefits and impacts in many other ways. Melissa left that afternoon having decided to run the London Marathon. It also set the ball rolling for the annual HAA fundraisers and wrap-up events I wanted to build from there.
So much inspiration packed into one room, one afternoon.
How on earth were we going to top it the following year?
No idea how, but we would.
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