A balancing act

I went to a long meeting at the Neighbourhood Centre yesterday. It was a three hour planning meeting to decide what we'll be doing this year and how we'll pay for it. We'll continue to offer our regular services like emergency food for people in need, food, laundry and showering facilities for the homeless, room hire, counselling services for victims of domestic violence, family support through one of our wonderful partners, my workshops and many other things, but we have to concentrate on fundraising too. We get a small amount of funding from our local Council which pays some of the operating costs but we have to come up with the rest. We are a registered charity, so all donations to us are tax-deductible but we have to sell ourselves alongside other local charities in a depressed economy - it's not easy.

Photo by Jens Hetzel.

On Monday, we had a crew here from the TV program Sunrise. That will be on TV this morning at 8.50am - channel 7. There will be another crew here tomorrow. I'll let you know more about that after they've been here.

I'm sorry to go on and on about the book but at the moment its filling up our lives. Today I'll finish signing the books I have here and Hanno will take them to the post office to send them on their way. I hope I have time for a haircut this morning and then I'll start packing for our trip. It's a bit of a balancing act to include as much as we need, and have clothes for hot and cold days, without going overboard and taking too much, or leaving behind something we must have. 

There will be the usual weekend reading post tomorrow and then we'll be off. I'm taking my laptop and camera with me so we can keep in touch on the road and show you what's happening and where we are. I hope you enjoy the trip.