The weather was very kind to us, The Summit Restaurant venue was perfect, the music relaxing, the food plentiful, with gorgeous gift bags that Jane Griffin put together (which were kindly printed by Red Octopus Screen-printing- www.redoctopus.com.au– containing among other items, tasty tea bags from Dilmah tea, and eco-pens from Eckoo IT Solutions – www.eckoo.com– ), all of which set the tone for a wonderful event.

Acknowledgment goes to Adele Rice, Chair of FHEAL, and her kind friends Thea Soons of Advanced Skin care Clinic (www.advancedskincareclinic.com.au) and interior designer Sally Carson ( www.sallycarsoninteriors.com) who negotiated with The Summit to provide us with a great price for the delicious lunch. Thea and Sally were new friends of FHEAL, and they worked hard, contributed much, and introduced many new contacts to make this event the success it was.

The task of collecting items for the Silent Auction was in the most capable hands of Jose Rogas, Thea Soons and Sally Carson who managed to secure 53 great items to be auctioned. The items ranged from original art-works to weekends away, with the bidding bringing out the competitive side in some of our guests, as well as the generous side. We are so grateful for the support in obtaining all these items, for the generosity of the people and businesses that gave the items, and for our guests in bidding on them.

A huge thanks must go to Kelly Watson who successfully arranged our ticket booking through the FHEAL website and did printing preparation and all the follow-ups about table settings and so on. The thanks continue for the Watson family, with much gratitude flowing to Kevin Watson and his company, Enklo Printing (www.enkloprinting.com.au) , for such excellent printed material, for our monthly donation cards, the silent auction presentation cards and the booklets that provided the information on the day. The innovation and quality was outstanding, thanks. Then there was the generous and talented Riley Watson, who entertained us with her music. Riley is an amazing talent and we are so grateful to have her as part of our event.

We are grateful also to our capable and generous MC on the day. Lexy Hamilton-Smith, an award winning journalist, who is among Queensland’s most respected and experienced news presenters, willingly gave her time, providing a polished professional approach to the proceedings of the day whilst keeping us on track.

FHEAL CEO Jane Griffin’s speech was enhanced via a special guest, the Slam Poet Champion, Anisa Nandoula, who willingly shared one of her remarkable poems with us –find the excellent poem she shared with us, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r53_21pRZTU Hearing it once is not often enough. There was complete silence in the room as she guided us eloquently through a poem that painted a picture so vivid that the message was held tight by all. This was followed by a truly inspiring speech by FHEAL Chair Adele Rice, who left us in no doubt that the work of FHEAL is vital to supporting refugee background young people in reaching their potential. Thanks also to others who spontaneously spoke up on the day.

Our grand total was very pleasing and included money raised on the day as well as funds sent by those who later sent cheques or made monthly pledges. With moneys raised being enough to provide more than 65 days of creative art therapy, and so much positive feedback, we hereby declare the event a huge success.

We will continue in a similar vein for next year’s event. Save the date so you don’t miss out- we know some people were disappointed to find all tickets sold out this time. Each year the tickets seem to sell out more quickly : next year’s date will be 20/05/18, and we will advertise it on our Facebook and on our website closer to the date.

If you did not have time to donate on the day, and still wish to make a tax-deductible donation, here is the link:

In the meantime, we have a QPAC Concert being planned- Monday 23 rd October-very exciting. Those who attended two years ago will attest to the value and fun of this variety show. More information will appear on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/2heal) and website (www.healqld.com.au) closer to the date.

With gratitude, from Janelle, Jane Adele and the Friends of HEAL Foundation Board.