Fantastic Group of People

Isn’t it just THE BEST feeling when you get a group of decent, easy-going, happy people in the same space?  And isn’t it amazing what can be achieved with a group like this?

On Tuesday just gone, we assembled “The A-team” to assist with the packing of the 1600 books for 100 Children’s Hospitals as part of our “Read & Recover” initiative.  I am sure that it will be blogged about further in the near future, but I just wanted to share briefly, what I took from the day!  Whilst it was never about me, I came away with a fantastic feeling and it was all because of the wonderful people I shared the experience with.

Upon arrival, everyone jumped to the various tasks and throughout the process there was plenty of happy chatter, a few laughs and a general air of comraderie.  Over the ensuing 5 hours, (minus time for lunch of course) – we unpacked, bundled, wrapped, packed and posted the books so that they could get to their various destinations all across the country.

From me personally, I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to the wonderful people that I got to know a bit better and spend some quality time with.  The opportunity to get to know some truly good and decent human beings was an honour.  The fact that I was able to do so whilst we all worked together for the greater good was truly a wonder and something that I feel greatly priviledged to have experienced.

Sue, Kathy, Michael and Jenny – THANK YOU for being so kind and generous with your time and more importantly, with yourselves.  It was my absolute pleasure to have been able to get to know each of you (even you JW) that much better and I look forward our next catch-up!

We Never Stop Laughing

It wasn’t so long ago that when I received a call or text at 10pm I sighed heavily and resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be a work call that I would have to “manage”! 

So, you may be surprised to hear me say that last Friday night just before 10pm when I received a text from a work colleague (for the purpose of this blog, let’s refer to her as Jinny Whyte so as to ‘protect the innocent’), I actually didn’t sigh, but smiled.  You see Jinny had been prepping for her son’s 4th birthday and things had not gone quite according to plan!  There had been a whole load of hype around the Ben 10 cake that she was going to produce for her little boy, but time had worked against her, hence why she was baking at 10 at night. 

The text that came through simply read “Thought you might like to see the cake for tomorrow”, to which was attached the following picture:  (immediately below)

My response was simple – “Awesome job!!!  What r u on about???  U r a legend!!!”.  I was so suprised at how good it looked that I decided to show my wife as she is an avid baker and had offered to lend assistance to Jinny if it was required (we are all part of the White Now team – husbands, wives and kids included).  My wife was suitably impressed…………………and then she said, “Hey, hang on!  Isn’t Jinny’s son turning 4 and NOT 6?”.  “Good point!  You’re right”, I replied.  And so I sent a follow up text which said, “Nice job JW.  You truly are a ‘talented’ woman!”. 

“Just wait until you see the REAL THING“, was what I got back!

On the Saturday, my wife, two boys and I drove over to Jinny’s for the party.  A great day was had and the fanfare leading up to the revealing of the cake was building the tension………….you could cut the air with a knife (poetic license). 

The covers were pulled off and we were all met with: (see pic on bottom right)

We all fell apart with laughter!  Even with all of the stress of the previous evening (the details of which I have avoided intentionally).  Jinny had managed to see the funny side of things and had pulled us all in on the joke.

This is just ONE of a MILLION AND ONE stories that could have been shared!  This is genuinely just another day in the life of a White Now team member!  There is never a dull moment and we never stop laughing.  WORK or PLAY, we all get along so well and have such a similar sense of humour that we can’t help but include each other for a laugh.

We quite literally NEVER stop laughing!  No matter what the situation.  No matter how stressful things become.  We are always there to offer a hand and whilst doing so, make a “funny”!  What stems from this is a team that is engaged, passionate and involved.  Don’t get me wrong – we don’t live in each other’s pockets, but we do genuinely care about each other and about having fun and this is what makes White Now such a great place to work and such a successful organisation.