I’ve travelled home to New Zealand to say goodbye to the family before I take off to Argentina. I stopped off in Auckland for a night to visit some friends and then down to Mount Manganui to see my sister and her family for two nights. I am now with my parents in my home town Alexandra, at the bottom of the South Island.

My mum organised a soup and bun fundraiser for SOG. She invited local friends and family and about 30 odd people turned up. It was amazing to see the support and the interest in the project. We had a great night of soup, buns, a few drinks and some great conversation. People were very generous with donations and we raised a very healthy sum. Thanks mum!

I gave a little speech about the progress of the project and gave some background information. It hit home for me that it is not as simple as having a cafe that is supporting an organisation which is engaging in some projects. There are so many elements involved and it’s quite a complex story. I am now realising more than ever that a lot of what my role is, is to inform. I have become the informant. One thing is that I have had to repeat the story so often that I’m getting a lot better at it.

On another topic. The negotiations with suppliers have been going quite well. We have had some success with a couple of very generous suppliers. We have managed to secure some free product which directly translates as more profit for the project.

So I’m heading back to Melbourne tomorrow. I will be focussing on training the cafe staff and volunteers in preparation for my departure. We also have the SOG launch party and fundraiser on 19th September so will be fine tuning that. Lucky we have an amazing customer who has volunteered to event coordinate for us! If you haven’t got a ticket yet then get on it, just go to the events tab on the homepage of this site. It’s going to rock! Can’t wait for Missy Higgins to play!

So busy times to come. Touch wood, it all seems to be coming together.

I’m going to leave you with a quote that I heard today which struck a chord with me.

Gandhi: “happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony”