Five minutes to one o'clock in the morning. My body is tired and desperate to sleep yet my mind is alive and eager to start the day.
So here I am at the computer, rattling the keys and sharing the latest news with you all.
LET'S INSPIRE'S project ideas for The Food Bank and a series of Supermarket Rock And Roll Parties is now available to download. CLICK HERE
So is our SMILE project for the homeless and rough sleepers in Milton Keynes CLICK HERE Don't believe the article TENT CITY published in the latest edition of The Milton Keynes Citizen. It is misleading and factually untrue.
The STORY WRITING project is not also written CLICK HERE
I am in the process of putting together plans for LOVE OUR NHS. SECRET SANTA is organised, at least within our
On Monday Rachel and I will be meeting to talk about TEEN CHALLENGE.
LET'S INSPIRE will then be ready to start working.
A year ago I was working with some of Beck's friends to set up OurRebekah supporting Ronald McDonald House Charities.
We had a great year with some
OurRebekah continues, Charlotte is running a
Using music to support OurRebekah events Radio Love International was born in January, YES it was only five months ago. Have we had some amazing music events or have we had some amazing music events ?
Radio Love International seeks to use music to support good causes, including OurRebekah and Ronald McDonald House in Birmingham.
Radio Love International will become before the end of the year an Internet Radio Station. As we work towards that happening we have LET'S INSPIRE.
Money is the key to everything. Without robbing a single penny from the good causes we are supporting we need money to realise our ambitions. Tomorrow will see us hold the first of six car boot sales to find some of that money. Tomorrow we will be at the MK Bowl sale then on Saturday 7th July, 21st July, 4th August, 18th August and 1st September we will be at the Bletchley Irish Centre sale.
Jelena and I will be running tomorrow's event. I plan to be at the sale for 4.30am so when the gates open at 5am I can secure a good spot. Jelena plans to walk from Central Milton Keynes to the sale during the morning. Josh wants to come with her but he is just not well enough to walk that far. Could anyone offer them a lift ? I can take them home as the car will be empty having sold all the junk we have !
If we were to sell EVERYTHING we have tomorrow we would probably make £400. Let's be realistic, that is not going to happen. We want to make £100, £200 would be good.
Starting on Monday we will publish a daily set of accounts showing how money from these boot sales is being spent.
The first edition of THE SMILE will be published and distributed to our rough sleeping friends in Milton Keynes on Monday 30th July. Within each weekly newsletter there will be a sponsors page where folk can advertise their businesses in return for a donation of any size.
On Tuesday Josh, Jelena and I are doorstepping ten supermarkets inviting them to stage one of our Rock and Roll Parties supporting The Food Bank.
Saturday/Sunday 29th/30th September MORRISSONS
SATURDAY 13th October LIDL Bletchley
SATURDAY 27th October TESCO Wolverton
SATURDAY 10th November SAINSBURY Shenley
SATURDAY 24th November MORRISSONS Central Milton Keynes
SATURDAY 15th December TESCO Bletchley
SUNDAY 16th December LIDL Oldbrook
SATURDAY 29th December ASDA Bletchley
Some of the money we raise at Sunday's boot sale will be spent buying a ream of printing paper and ink cartridges. Did
1,46am I think I will go back to bed and try to sleep for a bit. I'll be back later to finish writing.
B & Q Dobbies Garden Centre Wickes Homebase
Do you think we may be able to persuade these retailers to let us take our retro vinyl twin deck out of the studio and into their stores to have some fun and raise money for Milton Keynes Hospital Radio. This being part of our LOVE THE NHS project ?
Josh, mate, do you think we could hit these stores as well as the supermarkets on Tuesday ?
1.55am and NO I did not go to bed. I'm going now. Honestly I am. Be back later.
2.45am and I am back. No chance of sleeping.
I was intending to come back and talk about LET'S INSPIRE'S Teen Challenge project. I will in
I made the mistake of surfing some friends' postings on Facebook before I went back to bed ! Now my mind is more awake than ever.
Rachel posted a video showing how the US city of Fort Worth in Texas was employing homeless rough sleepers to clean the streets.
Please do not think that the failing council of Milton Keynes could get its act together to do this. No way. Don't be silly !
It would be easier to walk across the waters of Willen Lake
Milton Keynes Council could not do what Fort Worth is doing, could not do it even if it wanted to.
But we could !
Have a look at a slideshow I posted on YouTube last July.
THE SMILE plans to put some purpose into the lives of those who are sleeping rough on the streets. HAVE YOU READ THE PROPOSAL YET CLICK HERE
As we build friendships within The Smile could we not take two, perhaps three, friends and give them a day or two a week working on such a project ?
I can hear staff at FAILING MILTON KEYNES COUNCIL screaming YOU CAN'T DO THAT. Don't listen to them.
There are also tax and benefit issues in a mine field of red tape we would need to pick our way through. AH
We do not pay our friends in cash but in kind. We do not actually pay them at all, we make gifts.
We could produce £5 vouchers which could be spent at certain selected shops where we have managed to engage their owners into our idea. Need a few more car boot sales to pay for that.
Now I can hear the readers of today's blog shouting DAVID THAT IS AN AMBITION TOO FAR !
The plan is to publish the first edition of THE SMILE on Monday 30th July, I am suggesting this programme would start to happen in October by which time we will also have income from the advertising fliers for the Rock and Roll Parties.
But we do not have the people to do all this I can hear you saying. Just a moment.... just a moment.
Can I go back to that Citizen report.
I can name THREE people who have been taken off the streets, THREE who were NOT part of TENT CITY.
There's our very own Josh and Jelena of course. Milton Keynes Council had sod all to do with rescuing them. It has been an uphill struggle with the council ever since to move forward. There is more to rescuing someone from rough sleeping than putting a temporary roof over their heads !
Do you remember the guy who used to sleep rough outside Aldi at Westcroft ? Before that he used to sleep outside the charity shop, that was before those running it put a rubbish bin where he used to sleep. CHARITY ? My backside ! That's Malcolm. For TWO years he was a rough sleeper.
Have you noticed he isn't there any more ? It was JELINA, yes our very own Jelena, who gave Malcom the motivation to change his life. OK Milton Keynes Council worked the system, couldn't manage it for two years until Jelena stepped in !
Rachel and I chatted on the phone yesterday, we are meeting on Monday.
TEEN CHALLENGE is key to the success of LET'S INSPIRE. We need the help of a teenage community service project to run our music events, to deliver advertising fliers, to be our mascots and much, much more. NO TEEN CHALLENGE = NO LET'S INSPIRE.
Rachel is worried we will not be able to get the teenagers through the door then motivate them. Get them through the door and I will motivate them. Problem solved. Yeh, but how do we get them through the door in the first place ?
Hang on to that a moment while I step aside and saher something.
In America they have something called POT LUCK SUPPERS. I have been to a few - BRILLIANT.
Friends come together for an evening of fellowship. They bring hot and cold food, savory and sweet. They put the food on a table and everyone takes POT LUCK to eat what takes their fancy.
Perhaps we keep TEEN CHALLENGE and run it alongside something else or perhaps we combine everything into a weekly FAMILY Pot Luck Super night. From that we find all the practical help we need for all of the LET'S INSPIRE events.
I was thinking to suggest to Rachel that we use Facebook to encourage our followers to sent their children along to TEEN CHALLENGE MK. Could we bring those followers to a weekly Put Luck Supper. POT LUCK MK ?
We COULD do this !
3.21am .... I am going to read this page, eliminate the typos then publish it and go back to bed. PLEASE share the page and PLEASE post your comments.
3.37am Typo's gone I THINK click the mouse and publish.
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