Ex-Cadbury's Staff Raising Money For Mental Health In New Zealand
Hello Chocolate Queens & Kings,
Every Saturday morning at 7.30am myself and a group of incredible ex Cadbury’s staff religiously turn up at our old Cadbury’s car park to raise money for mental health. We raise money for four charities listed below and call ourselves @projecthope.beyond facebook.
The fundraising really kicked into gear back in November 2020 when we took back our old empty Cadbury’s building for just one day to run tours back through it before it was pulled down. This was done to give our people more closure on this horrific heartbreaking event. After that day we just kept going. The team have had a few hiccups along the way, with the likes of weather and waiting for Covid risk assessments to be done, but we stayed determined to keep raising money.
Our why
Our Cadbury’s redundancy was heartbreaking. Working inside the Cadbury’s building didn’t feel like work at all; it felt like you were turning up each day just to see your family and have a laugh. Can you imagine your family being separated by an outside force? It wasn’t ok what happened in Dunedin, but what is done is done. You learn so much from being hurt and I’ve learnt that I don’t want to grow a business that is all about corporate greed and hurting people. I want to give the people of New Zealand the opportunity to experience the love and joy that we so freely had. I don’t want to be a business owner who just takes, I want to be a business owner who gives back to helping our community of New Zealand and especially those at the bottom because by god we know what it feels like to be forgotten about.
The knock downs
There have been lots of knock downs as already mentioned, but there have also been those that have given us some verbal grief. It’s not ok to have a go at people who are voluntarily giving up their time to support others. We are so incredibly lucky to have amazing supporters who do lift us up when we get knocked down, we are learning to park the knockdowns in a big pile and when we require a little motivation we pull from these experiences.
Our inspirational team
Connecting back with our old family has been amazing and a game changer to supporting our mental wellness. I have battled with my mental health since the closure of Cadbury’s and building a business and found that simply surrounding myself with beautiful and positive people who love and believe in you is the best inspiration that inspires you to pick up that broken crayon and keep colouring. I hope our journey inspires people that even during the darkness moments there's still hope. Can I also say if you are struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel, take that fire inside you and light the b*tch up.
I am so incredibly grateful to all of those who have supported me on this journey, what is going to come next will be an incredible ride! So hold on!
$21,151 raised in total, further details and pictures of our fundraising efforts can be found in our stories on instagram @meganfairley_chocolatequeen or @megan.fairley
M xx
