Day 10: Moving and shaking

There are definitely movers and shakers in our city. They move and they shake. And most importantly, they get stuff moving and they get stuff done. That’s pretty self explanatory on reflection.

They get the credit too. And the acknowledgement and the exposure…oh, and a lot of the attention.

But sometimes, it’s the quiet achievers, the unsuspected people that can provide the biggest punch in a project.

I was talking with an exceptional woman from Canberra. Her name is Cherry and she’s dealing with the recent news that her dearly loved father is terminally ill with cancer. Her response; get fundraising to cover the costs of treatment and get fundraising fast.

So, she did. She single-handedly decided to organise a trivia night just days after hearing the news. I asked her a very simple question:

“What is the one thing this whole [experience] has taught you?”

Her response was short and sweet:
“I have learnt that the strongest support often comes from those you don’t expect.”

That got me thinking about the quiet contributors that stand in the background at raize the roof, and seem to appear when their subtle touch is required most.

This has happened at raize the roof. Another extraordinary woman contacted me in light of the 30 days: 30 ways to change project and kindly offered her creative abilities. She offered to create a way to share our story and support our cause. All going to plan, you’ll get to see the work of art this week. You might even get to see her name on it.

This generosity touched my little old heart. I may have shed a tear.

We really do live in an extraordinary world, where sometimes the most unsuspected people, do the unexpected, without credit or fame. And they do something that leaves you completely breathless and moved in a way that is remembered for a life time.

This video reminded me of just that. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Oh, and just how exceptional is this Cherry woman I speak off? The trivia night was organised and sold out in 95 hours. 170 tickets sold in less than four days. That, in itself, is exceptional.

Day 9: Determined and never deterred.

If there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s that age old chestnut. Determination; that’s what I’m talkin’ bout (*snaps fingers, grinds neck from side to side, and waves index finger with pouted lips*).

Dictionary.com is all over it. For the linguistics out there, I provide you with the most subscribed definition:
Determined [dih-tur-mind]. adjective
1. resolute; staunch: the determined defenders of the Alamo.
2. decided; settled; resolved.
3. Grammar . (of a phonetic feature) predictable from its surrounding context.
Origin: 1490–1500.

Today I learnt that sometimes, against all odds, 5 hours sleep, a kangaroo jumping into your car and a serious shortage of maltesers, it’s not necessarily an action or taking another step that is required to achieve a goal. It’s standing still. Standing strong. And never giving up. Even in the face of failure.

That’s the mantra we’ve been living by at the raize the roof camp. It’s Day 9 and we’re still going. More people are taking action, none of us are entirely sure where things will end up. But we’re determined and we’re not deterred.

Urbandictionary.com captures today’s sentiment most accurately:
1.Determined
Pounding your cranium against an obstacle till your ears hemorrhage and you lose vision due to an unattainable, impractical objective that all others prior to you have failed to accomplish using equivalent techniques.

Furthermore, it’s this level of negotiation, communication, determination and drive that I can only aspire to acquire. This kid has talents. He’s going places. And he’ll get there.

If all else fails, do not take your eye off the prize (or the cupcake). Chances are, if no one else can deliver, Ellen can!

Oh, and for the record, I did take an action today. Just waiting for the outcome. And my cupcake.

Day 8: Short and sweet

No major updates for today…well, that I can share just yet. But here’s a quick recap.

Rochelle is still rocking out alcohol free and laying the foundations for a healthy lifestyle…and for the charity house.

Eva has resisted all things naughty and nice, and sugary and sweet. And she’s sweated it out all in the sake of cement.

Snap pants are not yet back in fashion.

Excitement levels in the raize the roof remain high.

A few sneaky surprises are brewing in the background to satisfy the senses.

Day 8 and the blog is still being written. Without the consumption of too many white chocolate raspberry bullets. Or alcohol. Or experiencing too many powernap face-plants into the computer at midnight.

It’s been a good day!

Day 7: Doin’ it in style

Give me an E… E!

Give me a V…V!

Give me an A …A!

What does it spell?

It spells Eva—the raize the roof member who is taking it for the team today. She’s got the challenge baton and she’s running with it… literally!

As a child, Eva loved nothing more than running around the house, singing, dancing and making film clips. At age 11 she even made up a song; ‘Go Go’. It didn’t really ‘go’, and sadly never made it to Video Hits.

As a teenager, Eva’s love for all things RnB really flourished. Enter the Usher addiction.

But it was Eva’s love of fashion and trend setting that is of greatest note. Her fashion favourite was none other than wearing ankle socks. White ankle socks with Adidas masseurs (more accurately known as Adidas Adissage Massage slides).

Oh. These are not Eva’s feet. This is Larry Long Foot. I think he needs a slightly bigger pair of these bad boys!

Achieving this fashion statement was risky business. School teachers weren’t quite as fashion forward as Eva and she was forever in trouble for breaching school uniform rules. But she was committed to the cause; rain, hail or shine.

Eva also loved rocking the Kappa snap pants – the shinier the better. There was no stopping her…then or now.

Rocking the sporty look, soon blossomed into a love of exercise and a continued love of food. Here’s what you should also know about Eva.

Favourite gym exercise: Weights. We don’t call her Arnie for nothing.

Most hated (and avoided) exercise: RPM

Favourite food: sugar. Succulent, sweet, delicious sugar.

Most highly desired sugary treat: white chocolate raspberry bullets. Oh, and hazelnut chocolate.

But what Eva loves more than anything is supporting and empowering others. So she’s ‘hardening up’ and taking on our 30 days: 30 ways to change challenge.

The challenge:

From 8 July 2014 until 8 August 2014, Eva’s giving up the sugary goodness, hitting the deck, exercising daily and committing to the project – balls and all.

The cost:

As a token of gratitude for her sugar withdrawals, Eva is encouraging her friends, family and fellow sugar craving and lounge loving pals to purchase 100 bags of cement—if she has to harden up, maybe our raize the roof charity house concrete will too!

She’s also ridiculously keen for her supporters to help her ‘eat her way out of the challenge’ by purchasing free passes so she can have an exercise and no-sugar free day.

Otherwise (and she doesn’t know this!) if more than $100 is donated to the cause… no donation less than $100 will enable her to have a day off!

Donations can be purchased here by clicking on the number 1: https://www.raizetheroof.org.au/donations/

Let’s keep this lady off the sugar, off the couch and out of snap pants and socks and masseurs.

SUCCESS TRACKER BOARD

Extraordinary results to date: Increased followers, increased donations, increased excitment and increased momentum. It’s been a brilliant week.

Lessons learnt: Sharing is caring!

Followers on Twitter: 181 @raizetheroof

Total online donations: $112,120       https://www.raizetheroof.org.au/donations/

Number of cement bags remaining: 200

Number of bundles of bricks remaining: 999

Likes on Facebook: 434      https://www.facebook.com/raizetheroof?fref=ts

Average daily website hits: 176

Day 6: Our community, our #CBR

In the midst of conversations about our project and what we’re out to achieve, I stumbled across an interesting project being undertaken overseas. It’s the inspiration for today’s blog.

The project aim was to transform a community through combining language and art. One word, one mural and one underpinning philosophy “Words inspire change, but well chosen words can transform.”

Here’s the project:

Intrigued, we’re keen to capture our supporters, followers and our communities’ vision for our project, and what we hope this creates for the Canberra community as we build the raize the roof Charity house.

So, the first step was to ask our raize the roof team:

“If you could choose one word that defined the vision you hold for our raize the roof project and the future of the Canberra community, what would it be?”

Here’s what they said:

Brilliance
Community
Contribution
Dynamic
Hope
Integrity
Limitless
Unity

While our project may not result in a monumental piece of art, it WILL result in a monumental creation—evidence of the extraordinary power of community and contribution.

Our aim is to enable as many people as possible to contribute… so, we ask YOU:

“If you could choose one word that defined the vision you hold for the raize the roof charity house project and the future of the Canberra community, what would it be?”

Please tweet your response to @raizetheroof #raizetheroof #charityhouse #CBR or add it to the comments on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/raizetheroof

Over and out.

Day 5: The lone nut gets more followers

Today has been a remarkable day. It’s been a day of reminders, heart warming reminders of the power of contribution.

To clarify, it’s not always tangible contributions that make a difference. Sometimes, it’s just knowing people are still by our side, as eager to see our vision transform into a reality as we are. It’s that which has left me inspired today.

You see, when my brother Lincoln, who wanted to build a house for a less fortunate family in Canberra, and I, who wanted to build an orphanage for children in Africa, had our first conversation about our dream, we were nothing more than, well, lone nuts with a very big dream—the raize the roof dream.

As we, and our extraordinary volunteers, shared our vision with the Canberra community, our followers came, showing early support and making following raize the roof, the cool thing to do!

We’ve been sharing our vision even more widely as part of our 30 days: 30 ways to change challenge, and from nowhere, it seems we’re securing additional support and followers.

It’s best explained by this quick video:

Today, I say thanks to you all; our supporters, for continuing to ensure we never return to that first dance as the lone nut.

Day 4: The universal symbol of happiness – the smile.

The daily grind, the paperwork, the ups, the downs. Sometimes, the everyday happenings of life can cloud the bigger picture, the real inspiration for the pursuit to change our world.

This is what inspires our vision at raize the roof. This is why we keep our eye on the prize.

This will be our contribution locally.

Half of the proceeds from the auction of the raize the roof Charity House will fund additional Captain Starlights in the ACT. This means more smiles, more frequently for seriously ill children and their families in the ACT and surrounding regions.

This will be our contribution internationally.

The other half of the proceeds from the auction of the raize the roof Charity House will not fund wells. It will enable a safe place to live; a home, fresh food, access to education and people to call family. More smiles.

This is why we’re creating raize the roof Charity house…we believe the opportunity to contribute should not be limited to a few individuals. Instead, we believe in unity and working as a community.

And I get to start the day with a smile.

Day 3: The game changer

We met.

We chatted.

We strategised.

We have lift off.

But, first…we must all wait.

More details to follow. Soon.

Day 2: Operation Abort Alcohol

This is Rochelle.

As you can see, Rochelle likes alcohol.

This is the low down on Rochelle:

Upstanding Canberra citizen. Check.

Mumma of two beautiful boys. Check.

Public servant. Check.

Chartered accountant. Cheque.

raize the roof Treasurer. Cheque.

Raging, partying alcoholic-loving rockstar at night. CHECK CHECK CHECK!

Ok, so sometimes I have a tendency to over exaggerate. She’s not a raging alcoholic. #mostofthetime

This is the low down on what Rochelle is doing:

Rochelle is taking on the ‘operation abort alcohol’ challenge for the month of the July. This means Rochelle is changing her drinking habits (read: not drinking anything) for 30 days.

Rochelle is generous. Rochelle is also persuasive.

As a reward, Rochelle is encouraging her friends, family and fellow alcohol lovers to purchase 500 bricks for the raize the roof charity house.

Bricks can be purchased here by clicking on the number 1: https://www.raizetheroof.org.au/donations/

Rochelle gets sad when people don’t reward her efforts.

Sadness might make her drink alcohol.

Please don’t make Rochelle drink. Please donate to Rochelle’s brick fund.

Day 1: clarity for charity!

Happy new financial year and, of course, happy Day One of the 30 day challenge.

Yikes! Already things are taking off with our 30 days – 30 ways to make a change campaign! In fact the project is stirring up so much interest, like today’s to do.

Today’s task was to start spreading the word! I got in touch with some movers and shakers. I successfully probed them for all their valuable thoughts which I now plan to turn in into golden goodness! Ideas came a flowing and we’ve received offers including:

• famous athletes creating promotional videos about raize the roof;
• people pledging to give up coffee for a month and donate the funds saved to raize the roof; and
• people offering to donate dollars for every kilo of weight lost.

We’ve also had lots of people wondering how they can be involved.

So, here’s the deal…the goal of this project is to encourage:

• people to share about raize the roof and become supporters;
• as many people as possible contributing to the cause;
• people jumping online and donating up a storm to the cause; and
• people making daily, weekly or a monthly gesture to positively impact the life of someone else.

For the raize the roof crew, we’ll be taking one crazy action every day to progress our project, secure important funds to build the raize the roof Charity House and to spread the word about what we’re up to.

For our incredible supporters, friends, family and unsuspecting new followers, what you do is up to you. We’d love for you to take actions to progress our project. The possibilities are endless, and the most extreme are most welcome!

You can give up something every day, you could share the story of raize the roof every day, you could tee up some new followers on twitter or you could embark on a shopping spree at our website https://www.raizetheroof.org.au/donations/ or you could do a random act of kindness.

Whatever you get up to, we’d love for you to let us now!

All this excitement is making me tired! Over and out!

SUCCESS TRACKER BOARD

Extraordinary result 2: Momentum is gaining…we’ve not hit the steroid level… yet!

Lessons learnt: Creativity is key… but so is clarity!

Followers on Twitter: 171 @raizetheroof

Total online donations: $112000 https://www.raizetheroof.org.au/donations/

Likes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raizetheroof?fref=ts

Website hits: 54