I've been so busy recently that I've hardly had time to check emails let alone surf my favourite websites.
But last night something pretty wonderful happened which I wanted to share because I'm just so proud I could burst!!
My brother has not had a haircut in 20 years. He has had dreadlocks that went all the way down to his bum! From time to time over the years he has talked about cutting them off but he finally made the decision a couple of months ago to do it and raise some money for charity. We set the night for 6th November and arranged to do it in one of the local pubs, then we set about spreading the word.
He chose two charities to split the proceeds between. One is an organisation that provides at-home palliative care for dying cancer patients and support for their families, and the other is the local school for children with disabilities and special needs, which is severely under-funded by Government.
Over the intervening months we have slowly been raising money. We didn't really know what to expect. Friends and family were very keen but it has been hard economic times for everyone. We were pleased when we reached $400 and thrilled when we reached $4,000.
Last night about 200 people gathered in the pub and I was stunned to learn that the total funds raised was at $18,000!!!
We had a blast....auctioning each dreadlock to be cut off and different parts of his beard to be shaved...lots of jokes and funny stories! AND.....by the end of the night we had raised over $40,000!!!! AND we still have some donations to come in as a lot of my brother's freind's employers pledged to match employees contributions!
It was a hard thing for my brother to do. He is known by everyone as Dready so he has felt a little as though he was going to lose his identity a bit. And he was very nervous as we began last night! But I am proud beyond measure, of him, and of such supportive friends, and such a generous community here. We began this thinking that if he could just raise a couple thousand dollars it would be something, it would be a couple of thousand more than the charities had before. What happened though is that he will be able to give each of these charities a considerable amount of money by anyone's standards! Money that they can DO something with to REALLY make a difference.
I am SOOOOO proud of my brother! <3
Here's a link to the video......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeqD1pdVIj0&feature=player_embedded
Since he is refusing the new nickname 'Dimples' he will still be known as Dready!