Over the past seven years, I have been involved in a fundraising drive to help build a Youth Venue in our area. Using all the skills I have as a keynote speaker; I decided to think laterally how we could build a Venue on limited income.
The first thing that came to mind was to invoke the spirit of Meitheal ( ask the community to help.) And we did resulting in all subcontractors dedicating their time and labour free to the project. The next challenge was to raise enough cash to meet the material costs. As a final part of this effort; we decided to run a Strictly Dance competition - obviously closely mirroring the TV show format.
It was a brilliant experience working with a small inspired team of fundraisers/dancers ending up with €20k more for the construction budget/ this coupled with monies raised to date, and the fact that all subcontractors were volunteering their talents meant that we were ready for off.A lot of my time and commitment was invested in the project but yet again as with past projects eg, fundraising for the construction of two schools in Africa, I got back so much more than I gave.It was genuinely humbling the reaction from the community. The night was a spectacular success not just in terms of money raised, but also in terms of production and entertainment and finally of most importance in term of building community spirit.
One thing for sure I learned, is that there is a huge appetite for community events and positivity; and that if the event is executed properly, people will dig deep to help on so many levels. We managed to raise a huge sum of money when the general consensus was “there is no money out there.” We sold positivity and community and it worked.
Juxtapose this against the constant stream of negativity coming from the media and you can see the source of some of our problems. As the University of Amsterdam has established, there is a link between negative headlines and consumer confidence. It is time for the media to do some serious introspection about their role in the current challenging times without doubt.
On the other hand it is time for communities to realise their fate/destiny is in their own hands if they so choose. This is a mantra I have repeated for over 20 years as a Keynote speaker and it still rings true today.So the message is clear give back to your community – you will get it back in bucket loads – realise and appreciate the power of community, and how together we can change the current consciousness.
Switch off the radio and start the community building process today.
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