Share Your Blessings

giving hope and sharing love

Birthday Project 2013: Blackmores Bridge Run for the benefit of Starlight Children’s Foundation

It was a beautiful day in Sydney on the day of the Blackmores Sydney marathon. I’ve been in Sydney for 4 months and I’m enjoying every moment of it. A lot of proud firsts in life and would definitely cherish for a lifetime.

I was grateful for my friend, Reg who joined me that day. We’re both part of the Bridge Run. Our category starts at 9:00am. However, we didn’t actually started running at 9:00am since everyone is just starting to enter the race. Our actual start time was some minutes after 9:30am.

The 9k run is pretty much easy than the 14k. Haha! I’m thinking that it is because of a lot of factors: we’re “more” prepared than our first run; the running course is a bit easier than before; and it’s definitely shorter than the last.

I am also indebted for all those who supported my cause via Starlight’s JumpStart. I was able to raise $650 for this event and was the top 4 Individual fundraisers (as of writing). I was amazed that people would actually sponsor me for this run. I also would like to acknowledge those who helped me to spread the word. It’s not easy to ask for donations or look for sponsors so sharing these to your network of friends is very much appreciated.

We ended the race after an hour and we really had fun. The only problem we had was the first drinking station was after 4-5k already! We were so exhausted and thought that we’ll break down and won’t make it to the end. I didn’t bring my own bottle of water since based from my previous run, water station is available every 2-3k so it’s convenient. Imagine our delight when we saw the first drinking station! Hahaha!

Once again, thank you very much for your generosity and time for this fundraising event. My first Birthday Project in Australia was a success!

Update: My friend Elaine & JZ sent $15 as donation as well early this October. So my fun was raised to $665. Yey!

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Getting to know more about Starlight Foundation

As I was learning more about the Starlight Foundation, I get so excited to join all their events. Currently, they have this movie nights event where you host a group of people to watch a specific movie. I also got excited to see a fun-run on mid September. I did the Sydney City2Surf this month just for fun, so why not do it again for a cause. It’s the how things go here in Australia. I’m not sure how they fundraise around here before the first fun run. My aunt told me that people do something to fundraise and the marathon is one of them.

Starlight Jumsptart

The fun run is called Starlight Blackmores Sydney. I’m not quite sure what Blackmores mean but that is how it’s called. The Starlight Children’s Foundation is one of the official charities listed on the Blackmores fun run page.

Starlight is the only organisation to have a permanent presence in all major paediatric hospitals throughout Australia – delivering programs 7 days each week to children with all types of illnesses & conditions where and when they need it most.

I called Starlight foundation to learn more about this fun run and the collaboration with the “Celebration Donations – Donating in lieu of a gift” program. I was able to talk to Tegan who willingly assisted me on how to combine the two. So they called Everyday Hero who is responsible for the donation pages and informed them of my concern. After a day, the just merged it and shifted my account to JumpStart instead of the Celebrations! How quick was that? 🙂

So instead of the Celebrations event page, I now have the JumpStart page that will be up and active starting today up until the 30th of September. I really wish I can raise up to $1000. If not, at least I tried.

Support me, okay? 🙂

 

For more information on the Starlight Children’s Foundation, please visit www.starlight.org.au or call 1300 727 827

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Preparation for my Birthday Project 2013

I’ve been thinking of my Birthday Project 2013 ever since I moved to Sydney. I felt bad that I can’t do it with my friend Coe whose been my partner in crime during these days. I know I can’t do the things I used to do in the Philippines since I’m new here. I don’t even know if charities exist here. Little did I know, the answer to my question is just around the corner.

Exactly 2 weeks ago, I started working in a company here in Australia. I got to learn new things, made new friends and just enjoying everyday of workday. On my first days, I was welcomed warmly by everyone, I got my own space and desktop. And then they set-up my email. I noticed then their email signatures have more lines than the usual signatures I had before. They’ve included a link to Starlight Children’s Foundation. That my friends caught my attention.

I’ve been reading about this foundation since then and felt that it was the Lord’s answer to my prayers. Now I had a charity institution as a beneficiary of my yearly Birthday Project 2013. It is so timely and it is also for children. You know how my heart is for the Youth of today, so this is the perfect match.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation provides positive distraction and entertainment for seriously, chronically or terminally ill and hospitalised children, to take their mind off the pain, stress & isolation caused by their illness and treatment. Starlight provides an opportunity for them to simply be kids, have fun and connect with other children. Starlight does this through entertainment programs within and outside the hospital environment.

Luckily, they had this page on how to fundraise, so I created one. I’ll still continue to research about this foundation and start to share the donation page in a couple of days. You can see my donation page here.

I hope you can support me again like you used to when I’m still in the Philippines. This would be a challenge for me since a lot of donors in the past gave goods instead of money. Well, I wouldn’t know unless I try, right?

 

Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia
Address: Level 3, 80 Chandos Street Naremburn NSW 2065
Postal Address: PO Box 101, St Leonards NSW 1590
T elephone: (02) 8425 5900 Facsimilie: (02) 9437 4634

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