October 2012
1 post
7 tags
There is a well known piece of writing by Emily Perl Kingsley called “Welcome to Holland” where the author draws a parallel between anticipating the arrival of a child and being faced with finding out your child has a disability to planning a holiday to Italy and getting off the plane in Holland.
In it she quotes “Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I...
September 2012
1 post
Damaged horses heal damaged people
Being in that yard with that big strapping horse was so confronting. The first time I approached the horse, I thought I was relaxed but the horse didn’t buy it. I tried again slowly relaxing deeper in myself and things improved – as I put my hand on his head (they feel the energy through the hands) the horse began to chew and lower its head. I was finally able to get to a point the horse...
August 2012
1 post
4 tags
Igniting change by combining lives ...
I never would have thought we would be igniting change by connecting six of our closest supporters with horses and Kinglake bushfire survivors, but that is exactly what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks.
In early July when we heard the tragic news that over seven people had recently suicided in the Kinglake region, we acted. We visited this shattered community and learned more of...
June 2012
4 posts
2 tags
Melbourne's Asylum Seekers Resource Centre
On a daily basis I am inspired by the remarkable people we encounter and work with – they fuel my passion for our meet the people, feel the issues agenda – I challenge anyone who says they love their job more than I do …
Earlier this week, Mike and Mim Bartlett hosted a visit with a difference by generously welcoming fifty friends to meet Kon Karapanagiotidis, founder of Melbourne’s Asylum Seeker...
“If we don’t invest time and money in these children early on, we are only...”
– Jane Rowe, The Mirabel Foundation
5 tags
We last wrote about Necker Island and Richard Branson and this week I am writing about the incredible Jane Rowe who started work at the mail room of Virgin Records – small world!!
Jane founded the Mirabel Foundation - an awesome organisation working with children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug misuse.
They are working with over 1,100 children this year and...
Read about Jane Rowe's amazing work in this... →
May 2012
3 posts
18 tags
Dreaming of Necker
It was daunting thinking about spending the better part of two days flying over to the British Virgin Islands. But at the same time, the anticipation of what awaited seemed to mollify any fears. For one reason or another - some lucky combination of good company and the promise of inspiration - meant that before we knew it, we had arrived.
And so it began.
An interesting mix of people from...
5 tags
Prisoners are People Too
Yet again I left Port Phillip Prison Youth Unit excited and sad; excited by the opportunity of these young men who are ready to embrace life, full of ideas and potential, and sad that they remain in a maximum security prison, many for years to come.
Their stories are currently being filmed in preparation for an initiative that the young prisoners themselves have instigated, ‘Stories from the...
April 2012
6 posts
6 tags
Our World Inside Out
Last year I had one of those life changing moments … a friend introduced me to Simon Hong, the former Creative Director at Re: M&C Saatchi Brand & Design. I went to seek his personal advice about how I might find the ‘pub sentence’ to describe Igniting Change’s work. After a good hour of my talking about the range of work we are involved with, including the Youth...
13 tags
Leadership Gathering
Next week from 1st to 5th May, Igniting Change and Virgin Unite will be co-hosting a Leadership Gathering on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson to discuss, learn and celebrate how entrepreneurship can drive positive change in the world.
There will be a range of extraordinary guest speakers including, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, Jochen Zeitz from...
7 tags
Courageous Community Projects.
The courageous community projects we work with and our daily connections with them are the inspiration for all our work, inextricably linked to everything we do. There are huge gaps and we are proud and humbled to be investing in many projects. We’ll be blogging about them regularly and here is a quick snapshot of three that we currently have the privilege to be closely working with.
Giant, Joe...
3 tags
Hello & Welcome.
Here at Igniting Change we are not aligned to one particular cause and we’re always working on a wide range of initiatives.
In the next few weeks alone we have a range of visits to courageous community projects that form the guts of our work igniting change by combining extraordinary lives, a leadership gathering on Necker Island co-hosted with Virgin Unite, and developing our new creative...
