There have been a few media articles written about me recently here in Newcastle. They mostly talk about my fundraising activities, which have become relatively well know in this town.
I’ve been volunteering with charities such as CanTeen, Camp Quality and Starlight for some years now, but I’ve only recently jumped on board with a few others such as the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, the Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation and more recently, Soul Cafe (a cafe that feeds the homeless here in the Hunter).
It started with a kiss… never thought it would come to this…. haha just kidding. The fundraising began when I decided to get involved with the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Great Wall of China Trek back in 2011. One of my former colleagues at Forsythes Recruitment, Sam Wallace, came up with the novel idea of holding a ladies golf day as a fundraiser for the trek. Soon after, Chicks with Sticks was born! After holding the inaugural (sold out) event in 2011 and successfully raising $7,500 for the WRHS, the addiction took hold…
I went on to raise $14,500 that year in total, including other events such as a sold out gig at Lizotte’s (thanks to Benjalu, Kim MacKenzie and Joel Oakhill), a monster raffle, fashion swap party and a whole bunch of generous friends donating to my online fundraising page.
In 2012, there were no treks, but I had decided to turn the golf day into an annual event, so for the second year running, Chicks with Sticks sold out at 72 participants. I also decided to add another charity as beneficiary alongside WRHS and I chose the Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation.
So…..2013 rolled around and of course WRHS were doing another trek, this time to Kokoda. How could I ignore that? So I signed up, and the fundraising frenzy began again….This time I decided to open up the maximum number of participants for the golf day, to 120. It promptly sold out, earning the two charities at total of $11, 830 between them.
I’m continuing to fundraise for Kokoda, but other events this year have included another gig at Lizotte’s with the amazing band from Qld Mason Rack (raising $750.00), The Great Gatsby Movie Night – raising a cool $3,214.00, selling the Entertainment Book (funds to be confirmed), a Foodie Fundraiser and loads more generous friends are continuing to donate to the online fundraising page. If you’re feeling generous, online donations will be open until the end of the trek at the end of October. You can donate here:
http://trekforchoppers.gofundraise.com.au/page/ShellFaithfull
Other media links:
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1682059/hunter-hero-michelle-faithfull-fund-raiser/
Faithfull Living 