Dear Inner Circle,

Being wrong has never been so sweet. Coca-Cola approached us to say that they were going to auction their iconic sign at the top of Kings Cross and donate the money to Wayside. I loved the gesture but couldn’t hide my scepticism about people paying money for a bit of an old sign. Getting into the spirit of the best intentions coming from the people at Coke, I started to tell people that we might benefit to the tune of $10,000 if all went well. When a text came one evening this week to tell me that they’d raised $100,700, I thought there had been a mistake. To say the least, we’re grateful to the good people at Coke and to all the people who paid money to buy a part of the old sign. When speaking publically, most people want to hear of our work, but with 90% of our funding coming from non-government sources, there is a story to be told about outrageous ideas, breathtaking generosity and faithful regular giving that keeps us doing what we do

What could be more powerful than a eulogy delivered from a mother’s torn heart. This week we buried a young man. We saw slides of a little boy in a healthy, happy family. He was well provided for and surrounded by plenty of loving family. Something went wrong that shattered this young boy who spent the rest of his short life seeking what comfort and anesthetic that drugs could provide. His Mum said, “No life is wasted and there was nothing wasteful about my boy. He was here, and we’re all better people because he was here.” Just minutes ago I finished another meeting with a family to arrange the funeral for their young bloke. The endless stream of funerals that are a feature of life at Wayside do make our way heavy at times, but that is not to say, depressing. There are few honours like the trust given to us to stand with family and friends when the storm of grief is raging. Helping people give expression to the inexpressible means we are often part of a family’s defining, epoch-making history.

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