Kia Kaha

"Kia kaha is a Māori phrase used by both the Māori and Pākehā (European) people of New Zealand meaning stay strong, used as an affirmation. The phrase has significant meaning for both the Māori and Pākehā people: popularised through its usage by the 28th Māori Battalion during World War II, it is found in titles of books and songs, as well as a motto." - Wikipedia

Inner strength and determination have been the driving force behind my undertaking of this challenge.  The desire to prove to myself  I can do it, that I can actually make a difference.  It has taken a very long time for me to get to a point in my life where I have that unwavering self belief.

With the Silent Auction looming large on the horizon, everything is starting to feel pretty real, basically I've got two weeks to get as many additional donations on the bidding list as I can.  Over the past week or there has been a considerable increase in pledges, and to date I'm only waiting on one significant pledge to eventuate.  To achieve maximum impact I've employed the "Scatter Effect" approach at getting donations.  I have fired out literally hundreds of donation requests to companies via Facebook, in the hope that one or two will reply, whilst it's not difficult, it's can be pretty waring, but it's proving to be relatively effective.  What I have learnt through this exercise is, there really are a lot of good people out there...

On Saturday morning as usual I woke up early, so I decided to spend an hour or two firing out messages to potential donors. And here is where it gets a little strange... in the search function on Facebook I had entered Auckland restaurants, and as I was trawling through and messaging a number of local eateries..  it was there I saw Kia Kaha CrossFit , "strange" I thought, how did that end up in this search?  I recognized the Kia Kaha as the name of a gym on the city fringe, it seemed unusual a gym has popped up in my search, but I didn't give it much thought...

The phrase Kia Kaha has always resonated strongly with me, never more so than in the past four or five months.  So I decided to message them and make a request.  Low and behold, I got a reply in less than twenty four hours with an extremely generous pledge to my auction.  Ammar the owner/coach at Kia Kaha Crossfit Gym pledged to donate a 12 month membership to his gym valued at over $1200 for me to auction off.  This afternoon I touched base with Ammar and he confirmed his fantastic offer.

The absolute generosity and goodwill of everyday people never fails to amaze me, Kia Kaha CrossFit are a perfect example of this....  Thanks Ammar.

Asante

Jacq

The link below is to help the charity I am volunteering for, please take a moment to follow it and vote for Cassandra Treadwell - Founder of So They Can..

So They Can's founder, Cassandra Treadwell is entered in the AMP Do Your Thing competition, where the winner (in this case So They Can) will receive $10,000!
But, we need YOUR vote.

To vote, click on the red vote tab at:
http://ampvoting.orcas.co.nz/Applicants/Details/11434

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