They came, they saw…and they forked out!
The launch night held at the amazing Mad Pizza restaurant in Surry Hills was incredible. We raised money and awareness for the campaign, kicking it off in a winning style.
We had around 50 guests attend including food bloggers, friends and family, turning out to celebrate the launch of The 2013 GIVVA FORK Campaign.
Major Raiser founder Dom highlighted that this campaign is not only about providing school meals to children in Laos, but also about making charity accessible for the everyday Australian. We road tested the campaign and sold GIVVA FORKS to each guest and happily accepted FORKAGE donations people provided with their meal.
A huge thanks goes to MAD PIZZA Surry Hills for hosting us and providing some of the best pizza we have ever had.
Big love from the team at Major Raiser.
Being the youngest person to on set out to become the youngest person to sail solo non-stop and unassisted around the World wasn’t enough for Jessica Watson — the Gold Coast native and 2011 Young Australian of the Year is now partnering with the World Food Programme as a Youth Representative!
“As Youth Representative for WFP, I wanted to be involved with programmes that directly improve the lives of children, and WFP’s School Meals Programme does just that – it keeps more children in school for longer,” explains Jessica.
It was a perfect fit for Jessica and Major Raiser to work together with the World Food Programme for the 2013 GIVVA FORK campaign. We were lucky enough to chat with the 19-year-old about what GIVVA FORK means to her!
MAJOR RAISER: Hi Jess, looks like you have been keeping yourself very busy of late. As well as your incredible sailing adventures, what other cool projects are happening for you at the moment?
JESSICA WATSON: It’s been a few years since my trip around the world now, but life certainly hasn’t got any quieter! In 2011 I was honoured to be named Young Australia of the Year and spent the year traveling around the country sharing my story. In 2011 I skippered the youngest team ever to compete in the Sydney to Hobart and now; I’m studying, consulting on a movie that’s based on my book True Spirit, and also trying to spend more time being a teenager while I still am!
MR: Being a well-known young Australian, it must be very rewarding to be behind an organisation like the World Food Programme. Tell us what the experience of working with WFP has been like?
As corny as it might sound, I’m so incredibly lucky to have had all my dreams come true. So there’s nothing better than being able to work with an organisation like the WFP, in particular in the Laos region, to be able to help other people achieve their dreams too. And sometimes those dreams might be as simple as a child finding their next meal!
MR: Travelling to Laos must have been one incredible experience, were there any stand out moments that you could share with us?
Travelling to Laos with the WFP, to see what was going on first hand was amazing. Tracking along down dirt tracks to visit remote villages, I got to see the program’s school feeding logistic operations first hand. Of course the kids at the schools were amazing, but the person that inspired me the most was this feisty little grandma who would talk over the male village elders, to tell us how things really were. She also had the loveliest smile!
MR: The 2013 GIVVA FORK Campaign is providing school meals to children in Laos. As someone who had seen the projects being implemented, does it excite you that we will be reaching out to a large number of Australians of all ages to lend support to this cause?
Providing meals to the school kids in Laos is so critical, it has a positive impact across the whole community; the kids go to school to get a meal, ther e, then they are able to concentrate and in turn get an education, which goes such a long way towards br e aking the po verty cycle. In one of the villages I visited down south, the e lders were asking for the programme to be started in their village. They knew what a difference it would make so it’s very exciting that GIVVA FORK will enable more villages to take part in the se programme s that much such a huge difference to the lives of the people in these villages !
MR: Do you have any favourite Sydney restaurants you frequent when you travel here?
Sydney has so many great restaurants but I’ll always be a little biased to those near the water or harbour views! I like to stay in Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches and there are some beautiful restaurants on the beachfront there.
MR: Any favourite quotes, and how have they helped shape Jessica Watson today?
There are so many quotes by so many inspiring people that I love but when I was young, the one, simple thing I wrote all over my note books was…. ‘anything is possible’.
MR: Any advice for Australians eager to chase their dreams, but haven’t taken the scary leap towards them yet?
The one thing that I hope people take away from my story is that you don’t have to be anyone special to achieve something amazing. When I first starting sailing it terrified me and look what I went on to do. It’s important to dream big but far more important to go for it, to take the leap of faith and with a lot of hard work and positive thinking, who knows where you’ll end up!
So inspiring that someone who accomplished more in 18 years than most will in a lifetime actually wants to be involved with our little grassroots campaign. Thank you SO MUCH Jessica and the WFP for partnering with us to fight child hunger! GIVVA FORK!