The Big Give - A Big Thanks

As many of you would be aware, this year we decided to do something a bit different for our Christmas Day's and volunteer our services to help run The Big Give.

As a quick recap, The Big Give is an annual event run on Christmas Day, with the aim of providing a festive meal to around 350 homeless and disadvantaged people in inner city Melbourne. You can read more about it by following these posts.

A formal thank you to all those involved will be issued in mid-Feb after the committee has finished their de-brief. Until then, I wanted to provide you with a quick update on how it all went.

Firstly, most unlike me, I didn't take photos on the day! Anyone who knows me will know how unlike me that is. Well, technically, I did take one, snapped very quickly on my iPhone during a break in the set up, but it really doesn't count!!

While it's not my normal, detailed and focussed shot, it actually captures the day from my perspective pretty well! It was busy, hot, chaotic, busy and exhausting. It was also fun, exciting, loud, festive and strangely fulfilling. 

From this shot you can see that we had lots of volunteers, from very early in the morning. Even though I had left my own family very early in the morning, after rushing through the presents with my daughter; it was fabulous to arrive to a venue full of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers, ready to hang stars, set tables, move chairs, sort presents... the list goes on!

We had over 350 people through the doors for lunch. We were able to feed every one of them a two course meal and give them all a gift. We sang carols, we did trivia, we played games. We smiled and we laughed. We watched the children receive a gift from our fabulous Santa and then watch their little eyes widen with excitement as they realised they got to keep it and take it home. 

So, thanks to EVERYONE who helped us make all this happen. Whether it was crafting paper stars, decorating divine cupcakes, donating Christmas trees, presents and countless other goods (and cash!) from generous personal and corporate sponsorships; or just providing us with a glass of champers at the end of the day; we thank you, the committee thanks you and most importantly, the guests thank you. 

Cheers,