It’s a heavy hearted irony that as I’ve been working on the latest sculpts – including a brooch sized homage to Culture Club’s #3 album – the thing that was on my mind was that my ‘house’ in the broad sense, my homeland Australia, is on fire.
And while we are relatively safe in our suburban cocoon (thanks to those overseas who were concerned and checked in on our situation), the devastation so many of my fellow Aussies are still facing breaks my heart.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to help. Money’s stupidly tight here, so it’s hard to imagine any tiny amount I could give would actually help much. And unlike the previous Black Saturday bushfires where we had a strong link to one of the affected communities and gave hands on assistance at one of the evacuation centres, this time we have no direct association with the affected areas, and I don’t know that they’d need more strangers among them at this vulnerable time – however good our intentions may be.
So what do we do? What can *I* do?
Then it hit me that the very thing I was working on might be away to help.
This is what I’m proposing: The latest brooch design will be the same price of $25 as the ‘80’s’ and ‘Modern’ George one’s, but until the end of January, $5 from each of the ‘Waking Up With The House On Fire’ brooches sold will be donated to CFA Victoria, and if over $100 is raised, I’ll split the total between the CFA and The Red Cross. Both organisations are always on hand whenever there’s a crisis in this state.
If you’re interested in ordering one of the badges, visit the eBay listing here: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/705-53470-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575378759&campid=5338273189&customid=&icep_item=402029952802&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229515&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&toolid=11111
Also, they’ve been posted out now, and thanks to all who bid or shared the previous charity auction for the xmas Boybles. The last eBay payment has finally cleared, so I made the donation to Beyond Blue this morning. $120.01. I would have loved it to be more, but hopefully that still helps someone find help when they need it. Big thanks for that gang! 😘
And thanks for all of you who continue to support my little endeavour here. Big love to you all ❤️
(Side note – if you can give blood or platelets, please do. Book in with Red Cross as soon as you can) (And yes, their homophobic policy against gays donating blood sucks, but I’m trying to focus on how we can help right now, and I’ll take issue again with that policy once this crisis is averted)
Maybellini.com 