Wow!  Just WOW!!!

We had a donation that came in this week on our Go Fund Me campaign that left me speechless.  It doesn’t happen often that I don’t have words, but this occasion was one of them.  And to be perfectly clear, this whole thing where we are asking for money to print a book, does feel a little uncomfortable.  I’ve been well and truly sucked into this cookbook-shaped rabbit hole, but do others feel the same way? The answer this week was a resounding ‘yes’.

I rang the donor, immediately thinking she made a mistake with too many zeros, but no, she told me directly, the donation is correct.  She was met with a stunned silence from me, to which she added ‘this project is so important, we have to get this book into print’.

I might have had a few tears in my eyes at the end of the conversation because it really is so moving to have someone tell you that what you are doing is important.  And to put down $1000 big ones to back it up.

But it’s important to remember that this project is about the women who came before us – they did the heavy lifting.  They were the mothers, aunts and sisters of the boys killed in WW1 who had the courage and strength to keep contributing, even after they received heartbreaking telegrams.  It makes you really wonder how they did that.  The level of grief in every community must have been crippling, but they just kept going.  They put together a cookbook that funded a Memorial Hall.  A beautiful Memorial Hall with soaring ceilings and flooded with natural light.  I sat in the beautiful mezzanine cinema seats last week with a friend and as we chatted the building just wrapped itself around us.  It’s a building designed to celebrate people and community.  It was built with heart and love, and it shows.  And for more than 100 years their cookbook has funded the building that still lives at the heart of our community.  Remarkable is really the only word you can use.  They were remarkable.

So this project exists for them.  The women who created the iconic Barossa Cookery Book were the heroes, we are merely the next generation to give it a shoozsh up.  Thankyou to everyone who has donated to this point – we appreciate every dollar.  But we particularly appreciate this week’s $1000 donation.  It tipped us over the $6000 mark, which was timely, because the first invoice for the photographer has come in.  It’s a nice feeling to be able to pay it with community love and to literally feel the entire project move another step forward, but we still have a long way to go.  If you know of someone who wants to support the project, give them a gentle reminder.

And in the meantime, I’m back to the emails and printing quotes – because, as our donor told me yesterday…we’ve got a book to print!!!!!

Cheers

Sheralee