Current Fundraising - Raffle
The raffle has been drawn for the Hope Cottage Telemarketing Fundraiser. A very lucky lady has won $20,000
to spend at her local Westfields shopping centre. The winning ticket number is 75724.
Voiceworks are currently running another Telemarketing campaign for Hope Cottage with the same price,
a $20,000 spending spree at your local Westfield shopping centre. That could be you! :-)
Our Newest Sponsor - Voiceworks
We would like to introduce our newest sponsor. Voiceworks!
Voiceworks is a telemarketting organisation that will be assisting us in our quest for
our very first Hope Cottage. We welcome them on board and look forward to their very
professional assistance.
Share your stories, Offer your ideas
We have a forum that you can sign up to and
join our community. You can share your stories, seek support from others in the same situation as yourself,
offer advice or support to others or even discuss ideas to assist Thera, Chaianne and the Hope Cottage
Foundation achieve their goal of opening the first Hope Cottage just outside Tamworth.
Hope Cottage Wish List
Now that our dream to open the first Hope Cottage is getting closer to being a reality, we have
created a 'wish list' of things we need in order to move forward towards our biggest dream. You can have a
read of the wish list here.
20th April 2007 - AGM Results
Just a quick note to let you know the AGM was a big success last night, with a few new and young faces
in attendance! We have a great new team elected as the main committee and a great team of 12 people on
the general committee!
I was re-elected as President unanimously. Paul Briscoe from Peel Valley Lions Club was unanimously elected
Vice President, Michelle Bennet as Treasurer, Marlene Klintworth as Secretary, Renee Bourne as Minutes
Secretary, Amanda Bell as Publicity Officer and Dalliss Ramage as Entertainment Organiser.
We are very happy with our new committee with new and young blood eager to help Hope Cottage aspire to
greatest heights! It was a lovely night and I was very inspired by the new team that we have on our
Committee, everyone seems upbeat and ready to get things going for this new year of the Foundation.
We have a mixture of young and a little more mature in this committee, I am sure the younger girls are
going to keep us 'oldies' on our toes!
The next meeting is set for June 19th 7pm at the Landmark Office Gunnedah Rd Tamworth.
4th April 2007 - Hope Cottage (Chaianne Ramage Foundation) AGM
AGENDA
Annual General Meeting to be held on the 19 April 2007 7.30pm Colonial Motor Inn, Tamworth NSW.
- Opening of Meeting by President, Thera Ramage who welcomes all those present.
- Appointment of Minute Secretary
- Apologies
- Minutes of inaugural meeting held 6 march 2007 - tabled
- Minutes of inaugural meeting accepted and ratified
- Annual Reports tabled:
- Reports submitted accepted and ratified
- General Business:
- Fundraising
- Hope Cottage
- Direction of the Foundation
- Appointment of Returning Officer
- Meeting adjourns for coffee/tea – 10 minutes
- Meeting resumes - President declares all positions vacant and hands chair to the Returning Officer,
Ms Marlene Klintworth who explains duties relating to the various positions to be elected on,
explains procedures and declares the start of the elections.
- Executive Positions to be nominated/elected:
- President
- Hon. Treasurer
- Hon. Secretary
- Committee Positions to be nominated/elected:
- Minute Secretary
- Benevolent/Welfare Fund Director
- Fundraising Director
- Raffle Officer
- Election ends and Returning Officer hands chair to new President
- New President thanks the Returning Officer, welcomes the new committee and thanks past committee for
their time and efforts with Hope Cottage and all those who attended the meeting.
- Meeting closes.
7th March 2007 - Chaianne meets Spencer
This is Spencer Buchanan from South West Planning Pty Ltd. Spencer is our Town Planner for the
Hope Cottage Development Application (DA) that he is preparing and will hand to Tamworth Regional
Council in the next few weeks. Spencer has offered his services completely free of charge for
Hope Cottage, which we appreciate greatly. Spencer heard about us through our Frinds from Sunrise.
Thankyou so very much Spencer!
6 March 2007 - Progress Report
Yesterday was a big day for Hope Cottage! Our town planner for the DA, Spencer Buchanan, flew up to
Tamworth from Sydney and had his first meeting with Tamworth Regional Council. Spencer chose to help Hope
Cottage out free of charge after viewing the segment about Chaianne and Hope Cottage on Channel 7's Sunrise
program with Mark Beretta.
I picked Spencer up from Tamworth Airport and gave him a mini tour of Tamworth before having a brief meeting
with him about the plans for Hope Cottage and a nibble for lunch. Then off went Spencer armed with all his
info for the meeting with council. The meeting went much better than anyone could hope for, with the Town
Planner who will be processing the Hope Cottage DA advising Spencer that there was no need for a Pre DA
meeting with the council! WOW!
Spencer and Chaianne took some time out to have a photograph taken together outside the soon to be Headquarters
for Hope Cottage! This photo will be added to the Hope Cottage website very soon! Hope Cottage now has it's
wish list on their website ( Thanks Bronnie), so if you can help in any way, or know of anyone that can help
us in the a couple of month's time with our items on our Wish List, please email or phone me and let me know.
Br>
We are currently in negotiations with Bell River Homes to build the Cottages for the Families to stay in
during their stay at Hope Cottage. At the moment, John Buchan, the representative for Bell River Homes
in Tamworth, have said that they will get the foundations and frames up for the cottages at a very good
price. So we need to find builders, roofers, tilers, Painters, Plumbers etc to finsh building the cottages.
We will also need to find a company to donate the carpets for the houses and a company to donate floor and
wall tiles, showers, baths etc etc ( said in my best Yul Brunner voice). All should be finalised with the
purchase of the property in the very near future, the DA should be finalised by at least the end of April,
early May, very exciting!
So we are all systems go my friends!
Last week, the lovely Pierre Taouk the Managing Director from VIP Building Services based in Sydney, donated
a Ford Territory to Hope Cottage. As well as donating this beautiful vehicle, Pierre is also paying for the
ongoing insurance and registration of the Territory! What a fantastic Angel Pierre is and we are extremely
grateful to Pierre for his kind and generous donation. Chaianne and Pierre hit it off like a house on fire
and Pierre wants to be involved with Hope Cottage in many other ways. What a man!
Our friends the Good Guys Store in Tamworth have a 50' Plasma Television awaiting collection for Hope Cottage.
This television was donated to Hope Cottage, via the Good Guys, by Centrex. The Good Guys are fantastic with
the support they offer to Hope Cottage and we thank them so much!
Voiceworks Telemarketing Firm are currently running our second telemarketing campaign The Prize is a $20,000
voucher to spend in Westfields, how exciting would that be if you won that! The date of the draw of this prize
is 29th June 2007.
Hope Cottage thanks Rod Carter, Sue Tapper and their great team from Voiceworks for their great job!
Hope Cottage has also welcomed Cheryl Felton on our team. Cheryl is my numbers lady and is a great addition
and asset to Hope Cottage. Welcome Cheryl.
Saturday finds a Boxing Match to raise funds for Hope Cottage in Tamworth. The venue is Tamworth Town Hall
and starts at 6pm Saturday 10th March. This fight is called the Fight For Hope and all I am sure. There will
also be raffles and Auctions on the day and then a twilight race meet at the Tamworth Harness Club. The
majority of the proceeds from these events go to Hope Cottage and a percentage will also be going to the
Prostate Cancer Association in Tamworth.
We are hoping to hold another Telethon for Hope Cottage, hopefully longer and bigger than the first great one
that we had in March with Sunrise, this will help us get so much done for Hope Cottage in a very short time.
All the Lionesses are ready to answer the phones and supply us with yummy good and the Lions are ready for
their fantastic sausage sizzle again! We just have to find a venue and sponsor for the event *hint hint
Sunrise*
NEW... A letter from the Prime Minister!
Hope Cottage has received a letter support from the Prime Minister, John Howard. It's wonderful
to know the work we are doing here is being recognised at the highest level. You can have a read of the letter here...
John Bakker Donates Painting!
This painting was painted by John Bakker and kindly donated to Hope Cottage by John. John has a Son named
Tom with cancer and we were in C2 West together at sydney childrens hospital.
Click here... to take a look. I love it!
Hope Cottage Property Located!
We have located a property that is perfect for our very first Hope Cottage. It's just outside of
Tamworth and is beautifully located and ready for transformation.
Come take a look at the beautiful pictures of this property just in...
Here's a sneak preview...
We share with you our dream of Hope Cottage:
The experience of having a child with a life threatening illness such as
leukaemia, cancer, cystic fibrosis, to name a few, is a nightmare you could
never be prepared for. There seems to be no escape from the exhaustion,
heartbreak and the never ending cycle of hospital .... home, home ....
hospital ....
The idea for Hope Cottage was inspired by my eleven year old daughter,
Chaianne, who was diagnosed in March 2004 with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia M5
and also suffered countless strokes. After undergoing exhausting and
gruelling chemotherapy for four months and then a bone marrow transplant
on 9th July 2004, we felt there was a very real need for somewhere that we
could escape to and recover from some of the ravages that we, as a family,
had suffered.
This is when the dream of Hope Cottage
was born
Chaianne is an integral part of the Hope Cottage team we have gathered
and she has been involved in the Hope Cottage project every step of the
way. Chaianne has been an inspiration to us all, moving us forward when
we have lost heart and giving us Hope when we felt all hope was lost.
Now there is a chance to create an opportunity that cannot help but give
children and their families some much needed time-out in a loving, relaxed
and fun family atmosphere.
Hope Cottage is the ideal way for families going through this nightmare
to escape for a while and recharge their batteries. Hope Cottage is a
facility that will provide a holiday retreat, a 'getting away from it all'
time, so that families can catch their breath and regroup.
Families need time together to regain their closeness and fighting spirit
that does become a little strained during the stressful times of treatment,
hospitalisation etc. They need time alone together and away from the
distractions that often occur during their short stays at home.
The first Hope Cottage will be based near the popular tourist
destination of Tamworth, in Northern New South Wales, and we expect it to
be only the first of many such retreats right across Australia and eventually,
internationally. Guests will be welcomed from all over Australia and around
the world.
Hope Cottage grounds will have six well designed, fully self-contained
cottages that will sleep up to six people.
We plan to make everyone's time away in Hope Cottage full of rest, relaxation
and the fun that is sorely needed and very deserved.
Sunrise Supports Hope Cottage
Prompted by my love of my child and my desire to use our very personal
experience to help others I wrote to the team of Sunrise on Channel 7. They have
put their support behind Hope Cottage. Chaianne was absolutely over the moon when
Mark Baretta came to Tamworth to meet her.
More information on Sunrise and their support can be found
here.
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