Cranes for Hope - Fundraiser!

Today I woke up at the bright and early hour of 4 pm (yes, you read right, definitely not my finest hour!) During my fifteen-hour slumber, I had dreamt of the most amazing day. In my dream, more than 100 students had come together to fold cranes and fundraise for the victims of the Japanese disasters. Together, they fundraised more than $5 000. Even in my mind this was a lot of dream dollars!

And then I realised it hadn't been a dream at all, that it really had happened.

On Tuesday the 19th of April, enthusiastic and inspiring students from schools all across Sydney folded, smiled, got rejected (ohhh, how we felt the burn of rejection!) but, most importantly, made a difference in the world. 

The world is crying out for our help (not literally). There are people in Japan right now who are suffering in abysmal conditions. They have no homes left. They have no hope left.

These young people answered their call for help and roved the streets of Sydney, braving the sting of rejection and valiantly asking the public to donate to our cause. 

There were many many smile-lights for the day and this is to just name a few:

=)    When Sharon Mo was on her way to the toilet, a couple of punk-ish teenagers called out to her "Girl, why you in school uniform?" After explaining our project, one of them reached into their bra (her BRA, I say!) and pulled out $10 in coins and gave them to Sharon, filling her entire hand full!

=)   As Bella and I were walking along with our basket of cranes and collection cup, a frail voice called us back. We turned around to see an old man who seemed unfortunate - his clothes were old and tattered and he was sitting by himself. When we walked back to him, he pressed 40c to us, insisting that we take it and telling us what a good thing we were doing. After we thanked him profusely and were walking away, we heard him whisper "God Bless You."

=)   The many, many people who didn't have spare change... and donated $5, $10 and even $20 to us! The sheer generosity of the people overwhelmed me and I was reminded again and again that there are so so many selfless and amazing people in this world.

=)   When the day began, we only aimed to reach $1000. By the end of the day, because of everyone's amazing perseverance (as well as their sheer charm of course) and generosity, we managed to raise more than five times our target.

There were a lot more smile-lights but I don't think words can quite capture them. So I just want to thank everyone who came out today - you're ALL amazing and awesome people and, without you, the event would not have been such a success! I'd also like to thank Abby Hatami and Brad Timms who supported us on behalf of the Red Cross, putting in so much effort to reply to my incessant emails haha! Finally, thanks definitely has to go out to Officeworks and all the people who bought and donated today - thanks for believing in us!

You ALL inspired me and made me realise that dreams really do come true.

I'd like to leave you guys with some photos from the day (credit goes to Anu Ganapathy, Blair Wang, Cheuk Lam, Joanne Kim, Kelly Tran and Michael Ma for these beautiful shots!).

Since a picture is a thousand words, consider this our 10 000 thank you's to you!

Lined up and waiting to hit the streets!

How can you say no to that?

One of our charming teams!

Folding cranes with all their might.

We raised almost $3500 in coins alone.

Our sweatshop of crane folders. Just kidding!

Sharing a well-deserved hi-5.

On our way to depositing first $2000!

People of all ages joined us in our plight.

A generous lady who donated $20!

Folding cranes at Cranes for Hope HQ.

Cranes for Hope posters

There's always time to pose and look awesome.

Our beautiful hand-made cranes!

Late night preparation for the event.

Gorgeous coloured paper donated by Officeworks.

Ready to become beautiful cranes.

At Central at the ridiculous hour of 7am.

Ready to take on terror in the world!

Our all-nighter team!

Always, always remember, Happiness Equals Bracket =)

Sydney Train for Cranes

This Tuesday, the 19th of April, come join Happiness Equals Bracket as we take 'Cranes for Hope' to the streets and trains of Sydney! We'll be coming together with youth volunteers from near and far to approach the public, sell some of our gorgeous cranes, and show Sydney exactly how cool we can be!

Although its a little late notice (although we do have a facebook group running, please guys, keep up with the goss :P), if you aren't planning anything except a stint in front of the computer, or finding out if the guy finally kisses the girl in that k-drama, we implore you to come!

What's that you asked from your computer? Why should you spend a perfectly good Tuesday on this?

Because this is your chance. Since this blog started, we've slowly been getting more and more people involved, trying to contribute to a world that needs help, as much as we can.

For the first time ever, we actually have the resources and the support to effect change in a BIG way. For the first time, we can join with other inspired young people in Sydney, high school students like us who will prove that we can do it.  This is your chance! This is our chance!

This is also the first major project that Happiness Equals Bracket has organised, with support from brilliant, brilliant organisations such as Officeworks and Redcross.

We want you to be there. Please.

If you are interested in coming, please shoot us an email at happinessequalsbracket@gmail.com , or comment below asap and we'll put you down on our lists. You'll be fully equipped on the day with a volunteer badge, and organised into a special group! So:

When: Tuesday 19th April, 1oam (although if you can make it before, please do. We'll be there from 8am!)
Where: Meet at Central Station, at the exit near Eddy Avenue
What to wear: School uniform. Yes I know its super lame because its holidays, but trust us on this one. We'll look suaaaaaave :)
What we'll be doing: Roaming the city, trains with baskets of cranes, selling them to the public - and of course, making new friends!
What to bring: Your smile. Don't forget, you'll need that.

 

I can't wait to unleash these babies into the world.

Always remember, Happiness Equals Bracket =)

Cranes For Hope - James Ruse Style!

As a follow up to our momentous, enormous, fantabulous (yes it is a word) quest to support Japan, last Friday the students of James Ruse flexed and stretched those fingers to fold for a cause. And the cranes - well, you could say they flew out!

I'm sorry. That was uncalled for.

Instead of the normal muttering and groaning as the bell for rollcall rang through the school, James Ruse was filled with a chorus of giggles and shouts and grins! And then lollipops danced with us, and little cute puppies ran out and shook our hands, and rainbows burst out raining sunshine above us...

Okay call me idealistic, but that's the way I envisioned it happening in my head the night before. Perhaps it wasn't quite like that, but you know what? It was incredibly close, I did feel some sunshine, and young people actually sailed to class gleefully so they could learn how to fold a crane. Here's how we did it. Are you ready?

Step One:
Shop at Officeworks for the rest of your high school life! They were kind enough to donate us reams and reams of coloured paper so our cranes could have some pep! Also so we could save some funds of course heh. But it was still incredibly kind of them :)

Step Two:
Take a piece of paper, and make some fancy creases and lines. Alternatively, take a piece of paper and write a heartfelt message to them - language doesn't matter. Love hearts usually get the meaning across perfectly!

We're not even looking at our hands!

And it wasn't just the ladies! Surprisingly enough, the boys showed a flair for creating crane-zy masterpieces. All I say is, suuuure you've been gaming in your spare time, sure.

"Hey Jing! Am I doing this right?"

Even the teachers couldn't resist lending a 'hand'!

Finally, students making a teacher work.

It's harder than it looks!

Step 3:

Find the best-looking people in the school, and give them your efforts. That would be the SRC body of course, who worked ridiculously hard to put this initiative into action. Special shout-outs go to Sharon, Delian, Brian, Anu and Leanne! Not only did they organise the entire day, they weren't afraid of doing the nitty-gritty - cutting paper with the gullotine into squares, approaching Officeworks, teaching people how to make cranes. You are all amazing!  :)

The amazing superheroes of SRC execs 2011... and me. Ignore me.

It wasn't just the cranes that came tumbling in, but almost every student donated a gold coin with their crane. Those who didn't saved their money for the fantastic food festival later that included hot waffles with chocolate sauce and the old favourite, migoreng :)
Really, what more could you ask for?

And now I'm not sure of the official figures, but together the combined effort of a high school who simply wanted to help was over $1500 and the number of cranes...I pity the people who have to count them.
Oh hey wait, thats us.

But so much more than that, what will stay with me is how nobody asked questions, or complained. They simply did their best to show Japan how much they cared. Some people folded easily fifty cranes throughout the course of the day. Others patiently taught their friends over and over again, creasing the familiar folds and correcting mistakes, until I would have gone insane. Then there are those who thought origami was a board game - but still gave it a go! I know it sounds incredibly cheesy, cheesier than a pizza garnished with grated parmesan, but together we did it. We really did.

There's nothing more to say than that, so I'll leave you with the wonders of visual technology! Cheers!

Six little cranes went out one day...

'If you hear a ripping sound...the bin's over there'



Japan. We're folding for you.

 

Always remember, Happiness Equals Bracket =)