40 At first I said sorry, as I was tired and needed a rest. She said she only needed my help to start off the appeal and she would then carry on. She did not leave me alone until I promised I would visit the hospital. She was very keen and smart, and the day that I visited, she had arranged a get-together of a number of boys and girls with both hands missing. That was enough to get me emotional, so I went home and put on my thinking cap! First, I had to think of a name for the appeal, so I came up with ‘Hand to Hand Appeal’. I went back to the lady, and asked for photos of the children with hands missing. The request was refused, as the hospital felt it would degrade their image. I knew it would be impossible to raise funds unless we got the public emotional. We still went ahead, but the response was not very good. I recruited major sponsors and received contributions from individuals. After about a month, we raised only $40,000, which included an Auction Day at the Wholesale Market, when we auctioned items which had been donated by the public, and raised about $18,000. Eventually, as a result of my persistence, I convinced the hospital management to let me have a photo of two children with both hands missing. They supplied a professional photographer, and took shots of a boy and a girl, both aged seven. Vanessa and Peter were beautiful, loving children. The photo showed Vanessa playing on a swing, and Peter playing football. We started publicity and everything went well. Martin Carlson played a major role as publicity man and liaison between the hospital management and me. The final result was close to my original expectation of $200,000. I think one of the craziest things I did was taking on a project to raise funds for the last payment on the loan for St Gregory’s Church. I organised the parishioners to give cash or items which could be turned into cash at auction. We arranged a dinner, and that night I auctioned two hundred and seventy items, which raised $22,000 more than was needed.