Australasia and Oceania

Fun and Fundraising in Maleny

The Maleny unit has finished several busy weeks of fundraising to
support AMURT relief work in Burma. Using the concept of "multiple
revenue streams" the unit collectively planned and carried several
different projects that all were very successful -- and involved a
large group of us, each person sharing their unique skills.

The first fundraiser was held at the Ananda Marga River School. We
celebrated Baba's birthday on the same day. On that day each of the
seven primary classes dressed in a different color of the rainbow. So
after a beautiful short video and talk about Baba, the children
walked out to the school oval singing and formed a rainbow. Dada lead
everyone in a beautiful meditation, sending love and light to the
people affected by the cyclone. Then, as the children sang "May the
love we're sharing spread its wings," each child walked by the "pot
of gold at the end of rainbow" and dropped in a gold coin. It was a
beautiful event -- and raised $250!

Our next event was also organised through the school. Parents offered
to bake and help with a bake sale we held on the main street of town
on a Saturday. The sale was well-organised and, along with spreading
love and publicity about Burma relief work, raised $750.

Meanwhile we also had a raffle going, with three sumptuous spa
treatments to be won. We sold raffle tickets at the bake sale. ("Buy
$5 worth of baked goods, get a free raffle ticket!" was a good
strategy.) We also opened a donation bank account at the local
credit union, that we mentioned in our press releases, and people
began sending in donations.

But the biggest event of all was our fundraising concert and dinner:
Burma Relief Now! With a lot of hard work, and the help of a school
parent who is a professional events organiser, we were able to find
two big well-known bands who agreed to play for free for our concert.

One band is from the Gold Coast, the other from Brisbane. We were so
delighted when they agreed to play! We found out just as a busload of
us was driving home from Baba's Birthday retreat! We slotted in a few
other local and Margii performers to round out the evening, and were
delighted again when four hard-working acharyas agreed to come and
cook on the day, from Gympie and Brisbane.

During the next weeks we really worked hard on publicity with our
amazing poster designed by Lokesh, press releases, banners, and
street signs. We held weekly meetings to schedule the evening and
coordinate our efforts.

On the day of the concert it was raining in torrents, but the
acharyas and volunteers cooked all day. Other volunteers decorated
the hall beautifully, and by evening the crowds started to appear
while the rain finally stopped. We sold 250 entry tickets, around 100
meals, plus chai and plenty of donated gelati. We also had "limited
edition" T-shirts that sold well. Before the bands played, Paunkaj
shared his experience working with AMURT in Indonesia and showed a
powerpoint presentation on Burma that Giita had made. A local woman
from Burma also shared stories from her family and friends about the
cyclone.

The evening was an all-round success and we felt an outpouring of
support from throughout the community in all of our efforts. All in all we have been able to raise around $6,000. This money will go for AMURT food distribution in the hardest-hit areas of Burma and the creation of "Child Friendly Spaces" for orphans and other children at risk. We applaud the amazing efforts of the hard-working volunteers in that very challenging environment.