CEO Cook Off for Oz Harvest
Well it was such a hit, I’m still buzzing! About 1,000 homeless filled the marquee with 14 groups of nearly 200 CEOs and celeb chefs such as Maggie, Neil Perry, Peter Gilmore, Georgec Columbaris , Miguel Maestre , Justin North) around the perimeter getting ready
- Miguel and me
to cook for them. It was interesting to see how some CEOs were very comfortable chatting with the homeless, while others held back. Personally I think it’s the connection with people the homeless often crave, not just a good food. But there were smiles all round, and nothing makes me happier than feeding a lot of people!
The table we were looking after were just awesome and all older male teenagers, who are in a ‘community’ for roughly 6-9 months. They were such young gentlemen with backgrounds ranging from alcohol, drugs, physical and emotional abuse. One ‘guy’ was on his first day so must have been freaking out and wondering if this kind of thing happened all the time. I’m 25 years older than these guys and female, yet we somehow connected so well and we had such a great time talking and sharing stories of tricky early years.
One of the men who works there asked me to share how I’d managed to start my business and how I decided to ‘go for it’. I turned it
- Maggie, me & George
around and asked when did they decide they could actually make a real change in their life and they said when they set goals. I agreed, but also suggested that at some point they stopped listening to everyone else tell them could do it, and actually believed they could. Same as how I felt when I decided I was ready to back myself and Cheeky. Being reminded of such a simple but life changing principle, in amongst hundreds of people (many who don’t know where they’ll sleep that night) was worth every last second of being there. I was supposed to be uplifting them, but it was the total opposite.
Later on when Jimmy Barnes hit the stage I found myself dancing around beside a few of these fine young gentlemen, and so took some photos with Jimmy singing behind them. I can’t wait till they see them!
Well done to Ronni Kahn and her staff and the massive team of volunteers for creating such a sensational event. And to Alan Joyce from Qantas who got right behind Oz Harvest. Thanks for your sponsorship and to all the other food and equipment suppliers.
I’ve been home now for an hour and the rain has just started…I wonder where so many of them will be sleeping tonight…
