Like a kid in a toy shop
I must admit, I’ve always had dreams of charging through a department store with one of those massive American sized trolleys, grabbing anything I wanted. Today was about as close to that as I have managed so far in my life and it was FUN.
Some background: Grant Thornton Australia are partnered with Whitelion as one of our charities of choice in our Melbourne office. This is through Grant Thornton’s newly commissioned Grant Thornton Foundation. Whitelion works primarily with at risk youth (although their programmes do extend beyond that) helping them through difficult times, mentoring and coaching them to make better choices and providing continued support along the journey to a different future. http://www.whitelion.asn.au/
This year, Whitelion, in conjunction with the GT Foundation, have put up a wishing tree in the GT Melbourne lunchroom where staff can grab a Christmas bauble off the tree and replace it with a Christmas present for the age group indicated on the bauble. The IT team love to make use of technology, so rather than individually going out and buying a present each, with the guidance of Andrew Pritchett, we set up a “GroupTogether” collection. (www.grouptogether.com.au) GroupTogether is an awesome solution for all your money gathering needs because it removes the need for cash and coins, and also removes my old mate from accounts, Steve’s, excuse that he only carries card (and yet still expects a birthday present every year). Special kudos must go to the Melbourne Operations team, the National IT team as well as significant contributions from some of Grant Thornton’s IT Vendors (Lenovo, Xerox, Software One, Blue Connections, Mimecast, MYOB, Thomas Duryea, Next Gen) we were able to raise $635 dollars to buy gifts for the Whitelion Wishing Tree.
Maria and I hit Chadstone bright and early yesterday morning and rolled straight into the Target toy section. It was so much fun just pulling things off the shelf and throwing them in the basket! A little indication of what we picked up: Lego, Starwars, Frozen, Mini Drones, Remote Control Red Bull Racing F1 Cars, talking learning books. By the end of our toy selection, though, I’m panicking, the trolley is full and I’m sure we have blown budget! We got to the check-out, BOOM — 20% off all toys and we’ve only spent half the money!! Onwards we march, into the mayhem of Chadstone in December. Kikki K, Smiggle and National Geographic store rounded out the shopping experience. We ran 31 cents over budget so did very well with our sums.
Overall, we had a really awesome day doing the shopping and thank you to everyone who has contributed with funds or love for this one. Early indications suggest we probably have enough presents for 30+ kids and the boot of our car is completely full of toys and presents.
