There is nothing easy about planning a large scale event, add in the complexity that the workforce is completely volunteer based, each of us managing the juggling act of families, work, business or other commitments, to pull off a successful event is a big accomplishment.
Since we seriously began our planning, because who knew what next COVID-19 delight there would be, there have been hundreds of hours, meetings, emails, phone calls, messages and conversations that have contributed the planning of this event. It was gut wrenching to decide not to proceed with the original date to due poor weather and even harder to pivot to a new date so close to the end of the year.
Thank you for the many beautiful messages of thanks that we have received but the honest truth is that this was 100% a team effort, everyone's contribution was equally important to success and we could not have done it at all without each other.
A few important thank you's:
David Velardo - a rock in the team. While he is not too familiar with a hot potato, he certainly delivers when it comes to financial planning and budgeting. Ensuring everything is accounted for and everyone is paid, the work David has done this year has set up the planning for this event well into the future
Emma O'Brien- has genuinely tackled anything and everything, particularly handling those tricky ride folks. She has helped with permits, paperwork and council issues and this behind the scenes work is not always evident but it is so important to make the day run smoothly and safely
Justine Brogna - an absolute trooper in getting an entertainment schedule together and working with all the local performing arts businesses in our community, it is great to provide opportunity for all students from our school and others to shine.
Louise Dorinko - we begged her to return to help with stalls and she has beyond delivered. Super calm, managing her life, a new job and her business while corralling all the stall champs has been extraordinary.
Mireille Constantine - while we didn't get there in terms of community sports being with us on our new date, her work in this space was significant and we hope that all those well laid plans can be used at future events
Naomi Griffin 100% was suckered into helping, she was literally under the stage almost daily, managing thousands of donations and setting all stalls up to be highly successful. It has been nice to see her in the sunshine these days!!
Siobhain Loftus - her creativity and hours of design and artwork to deliver a stylish and slick event helps us stand out from the crowd, not to mention also running all the socials and ensuring sponsor benefits are delivered
Stall Champs - we could not have done it without you. Most of you had not done it before but you let us wrangle you into it. Your dedication and enthusiasm throughout the planning period was super appreciated and your work on the day was so very much appreciated.
Madeleine/Gemma - for all the hundreds of requests we made and they supported, for all the questions they fielded, for all the notices they shared as well as helping set up, volunteer on stalls, pack up and then more pack up on Saturday.
A thank you to Anthony for all his support across the weekend and throughout the year and for all the staff the worked across all the stalls to fill in volunteer shift gaps, particularly to Danielle Mahony and Sherralee who put in a lot of hours.
Finally I want to thank some very special families Cassar's, Crowe's and Gallagher's . Not only did one parent help but both were there along with their older kids helping and they were there from the set up at 8.30am till the last items were packed up after 10pm.
Everyone has made sacrifices, given up time and probably walked thousands of kms to make this day special for our kids and our community, and we are all very grateful for your efforts.
The beautiful comments that have poured in about what fun the kids had, what a special evening it was...this is what we aimed for and we got there. This will be a wonderful stepping stone to building the community again after the ravages of the past few years. While we always hoped to maximise our fund-raising efforts with this event we have raised over $13,000 in profit. I know that this is down on previous years but given it was a smaller event and less time we are still proud of the outcome and hope this goes towards funding some important items for the school.
Thank you for all your contributions - big or small over the year. We'll done to all involved.
Jemima Bowen
P&F Association