It’s amazing what you take for granted; I was involved in organising the Len Bauer Massage and Rejuvenation Centre Charity Tennis Challenge on Saturday. The chosen charity was Transplant Australia. The reason being 2 guys in the club had transplants. I asked Steve if he would mind doing a media interview to discuss his transplant and promote the tournament, he agreed and a page 2 story was the result. When I read without the transplant he wouldn’t be alive it really struck home. Steve had a liver transplant; Matt the other player had a heart. Obviously I would never have met these guys, become friends, played tennis together, had donors not been found. However I use to just take for granted their presence on the court with me. It’s hard to fathom how fortunate they are to be alive. Donate life, 2 simple words but it says it all. To all the people who participated in the day, feel proud about the awareness and money raised; life should not be taken for granted, it is indeed a gift and it’s a gift that you can give to others.
Another valuable gift that one can give is time, time to assist others. Couple of weeks back I sought after 50 business people to attend a C2C (Communication to Careers) gathering at The Cathedral College on Monday July 21 to have short conversations with about 102 students. We’re very close to achieving this goal. However the closer we get to a 1 on 1 ratio with the students the more beneficial it will be for them. The purpose is to provide the situation to develop/practice student’s communication skills. Over an hour the students will have around 30 conversations with different business people. For some this might be a walk in the park, others may find it a little uncomfortable. Over the hour they’ll gain more confidence, find the experience not as daunting and further develop their communication skills, skills that will be invaluable to them in applying for part time positions and on leaving school. If you can give some of your time this Monday morning visit www.ring.org.au/c2c to register, believe me you’ll feel a sense of pride (and remind us of how we use to be).