and so……..we have a new website and I now have the opportunity to ‘blog’. I think the temptation is to pretend that I’ve been doing it for ages, write a few hurried entries and pre-date them. ‘Oh yes I’ve been blogging for a long time, haven’t you seen it’. Well what’s the point of that? I’m a virgin blogger, deal with it!!
I’m desperate to tell you all about what we have been up to over the past few months, but by Thursday, when you revisit the site (please) you will know all about it anyway.
I’ve decided that my first blog entry is going to be a series of thanks to the people that have been supporting the evolution of The Hunger Project UK over the past year…this works because while I’m thanking them you can see just how far we have come and, with the much improved website, you can actually find out much more about them too. Result!
The first people I would like to thank are The Hunger Project global family, those who lead the team in the US, Europe, Australasia and around the world. The very special people who lead our work in Africa, South Asia and Latin America (Country Directors). But most importantly of all…the many hundreds of thousands of people who are trained Hunger Project volunteers and who, every day, take such inspiring and brave steps toward ending their own hunger and that of the communities around them. Inspiring Stories It is you who inspire us to do what we do.
Almost every step our small team of two in the UK (that’s Lesley and Me) has taken over the past few months has been achieved with the support of volunteers.
Let’s start with the website then…many thanks to star volunteer Mark Speirs and also the personal and corporate support of Chaitanya Iyengar and his team at Cleanslate. Between them, they designed, populated and built this site in record time. Well done everyone.
To our Chair and Board of Trusteeswho have really supported and stepped up to provide endless guidance and support for our new vision for The Hunger Project in the UK.
To Steve Booth and the team at BrandME and Caroline Hill at Chill who have been working to improve our communications and branding materials.
To Kerry Milliken and Lisa Moore and the team at EyePR, with the visionary support of Glen Poole, for working with total tenacity and dedication to the raise the profile of The Hunger Project in the UK. Very soon it will no longer be ‘The Best Kept Secret’.
To all those at Kerry Foods, JMJ Associates and Anglo Beef Processing for the moral and financial support you are providing to make this all happen.
To our Patrons, Angela Rippon, Judith Batchelar, Rod Natkiel and Gary Avis who have all thoroughly earned their positions on The Hunger Project UK Team through the amazing support they have provided to us over the past six months. Long may this continue.
To our team of Ambassadors and Ekaterina Mitiaev (former Country Director UK and now a consultant to the team) for all they are doing to support us in all areas from Diversity, Human Resources (HR), Knowledge Management, Journalism….the list goes on.
To The Ambassador Theatre Group, Rod Natkiel Associates and Jane Lehrer Associates for helping us to create something very special….find out all about it on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010.
To Dionne Warwick – for bringing everything that she is to this project. A warm and caring human being, a legend in the history of popular music and, most importantly, a committed humanitarian and campaigner for bringing about an end to hunger. Her mantra is, “If you can think it, you can do it” with which we wholeheartedly agree and as you can see we are making things happen.
And finally…….to all those that have supported The Hunger Project over the past 30 years and all those that we hope will stand up, lend their voice to the cause and take practical steps in solidarity with the many millions of women, men and children in the developing world who seek to bring about an end to their own hunger and poverty. Together we are strong.