In March 2013 I worked as a Volunteer for the Fred Hollows Foundation as a field co-coordinator at their "Wild women on Top" 50km charity challenge.
The finishing line was at Coogee Beach and my role was to set up some tents and arrange the food and drink tent for all the athletes taking part in the run.
I worked from 3pm till around 2am, when many of the runner's crossed the finishing line.
Whilst waiting for the runner's , around 7pm all staff and volunteers shared some hot chicken and chips for dinner.
After dinner the entire 12 of us decided to play a game called Celebrity Head, where we blindly pick a name out of a hat, stick it on our forehead. Each person has to ask the next person a question as to who they are.
I asked " am I male?" Yes was the reply.
I asked "am I an actor?" Yes was the reply.
"Am I English?". No was the reply.
Before I got to identify the name on my forehead the supervisor called an end to the game.
I reached up and took a look at my celebrity name on my forehead to discover it was KEANU REEVES.
I said to the girl next to me what a strange coincidence it was because in my pocket I had an item linked to Keanu Reeves.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a copy of my debut CD.
I said " The name UTAALK is KLAATU backwards and Keanu Reeves played the alien called KLAATU in the recent remake of the 1951 film The day the Earth stood still.
She was like myself blown away by the strange unbelievable coincidence.
A few days later I received a email informing me that I had been invited to attend a Thank You Lunch with CEO Gabby Hollows along with 5 other volunteers.
On Wednesday 13th March 2013 I attended Gabbys Thank You Lunch at the classy The Deck restaurant on Sydney harbour.
It was a wonderful lunch, fine food and wine and wonderful chit chat around the table. Gabby gave us all a couple of Commemorative Fred Hollow coins as a reward for our contribution.
After a great 3 hour lunch, Gabby asked me if I would like a lift home as she was aware we lived near each other ; she live in Randwick and I lived in nearby Waverley.
I replied " that would be great".
During the 40 minute drive home we chatted and when she dropped me off outside my place I gave her a copy of my UTAALK CD and said if I can assist THE FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION in any way then please let me know.
Around a week later I received a phone call from one of Gabbys staffers , who invited me to work in their Donations Mail Room as a Volunteer, which I immediately accepted.
The Mail Room consisted of a supervisor (Fran) and 4 volunteers. We opened each letter or parcel and tallied all the cash and cheque donations.
They were a great bunch of folks to work with and have fond memories of Peter and Lola.
We worked and socialized with each other for around 2 years. We worked 9am till 1pm every Tuesday and Thursday.
Often Gabby would pop into the room to say hello to us all, what a caring woman she was to us.
I'm grateful to have share some time with Gabby and to have worked as a Volunteer for Fred's cause.
He was a true humanitarian.
In 2015 I was forced to cease my work with the organization due to health reasons.
In June of 2013 Gabby Hollows received a Queens Birthday award "The Order of Australia".
I'm thankful for the sharing some time with such caring and compassionate human beings.
No comments:
Post a Comment