A Christmas Gift from 500 Friends
Dear 500 friends
On behalf of 500 friends we recently collected a certificate from the NZ Police, and the Governor General - Sir Jerry Mateparae in Christchurch for the amazing boxes 500 friends created for Christchurch.
Whilst in Christchurch we had a meeting with the New Brighton Police about how the community is progressing. As a result we felt the need to let Christchurch know we are still thinking of them. We are aiming to send about 50 special Christmas boxes to families in New Brighton. The New Brighton Police have kindly offered to distribute them before Christmas. So we are calling out to you for your votes of who wants to help fill a
- We will provide the empty boxes that can be picked up this
Saturday & Sunday 26th/27th Nov
from 12pm until 5pm. from Fearon Hay at 70 Sale Street Freemans Bay.
We will have a drop of date:
New logo and a banner on the way.
Ok,
this may be the quickest blog post ever but hey, it's micro-blogging, right?
We have our new logo now, thanks to Raul Sarrot at fresh fish. It is amazing, incredibly inspiring and very humbling to experience the kind of generousity that comes with this kind of project.
Network visuals are, as I write, preparing to print a huge banner for the side of the container, which will be used to record messages, wishes, thoughts etc from everyone that drops a box off this weekend. A massive thank you to them as well.
More news as it comes to hand. Please folks, let's really get the word out there now.
Thanks
500 Friends
The kids are loving it already.
This post comes in the form of an email from Liz, a great supporter of 500 Friends. Thanks Liz, you are awesome.
Hi Pen,
Thank you so much for organising this very special task for the people of Christchurch and thank you for asking your friends and family to help you - we feel honoured.
It has been such a great way for the kids to feel like they can 'take part' in helping the families in need. The kids have eagerly (over) decorated their own box with much excitement. Next on their list was 'filling' the box so off to New World we went. Bella and Lulu took their own green trolleys around, we went down every aisle reading the list and ticking things off. They chose their own brands (this was clearly determined by the marketing), they chose what tinned food they were going to put in 'their own' box, they lost count several times and emptied their contents to start the count again, all with such excitement and they were so proud of themselves. The excitement didn't stop there by the end of the supermarket trip they were wheeling two trolleys each and of course they had to put their own items on the conveyer belt and they kept a close eye on 'THEIR' bags. When we got home the kids sorted out their items and began to pack.
Here are a few anecdotes from our night -
Lucia "The kids will LOVE these lollies Mum"
"It's really caring doing this."
"Are lots of people filling up boxes for Christchurch?"
"Will the people love my flower on my box/"
"I am going to put sooooo much in my box."
Bella "Here Mum, you take the muesli for your box for the adults I am going to put Nutri Grain in my box for the kids, they will love that ay Mum?"
"Some people have no food - we should put these yummy chippies in the box - because I love these - they are my
favourite."
"The people are going to be so happy now"
"I made a mistake when I was writing 'happy', I did a B instead of a p, doesn't matter I will just turn it into a
love heart - people love, love hearts."
Christopher "Mum, we need to put the lollies at the top of the box so the kids see them first"
"Can I take my rice bubbles out and put some of my toys in the box."
"We 'NEED' to put toys in the box 'MUM'."
Thanks Pen, keep up the great work.
Liz x
