Earlier this year, Olive Jarvis contacted us to say that she had decided to celebrate her upcoming 21st birthday by holding a large event and donating the revenue raised to Sexual Assault Support Service (SASS).
After the big event, our CEO Jill Maxwell caught up with Olive and her mum Hrisanthi Dokos for a chat and a huge thank you!
In order to pull off her fundraising feat, Olive sought support from the owner of The Grand Poobah and rounded up a team of volunteers to work on getting everything prepared, plus help run things on the night. Then, after locking in sponsorship for a huge night of entertainment, tickets to Groove with me! were up and on sale!
As the first large scale event that she’s organised, it’s fair to say that Olive was modestly unaware of what a great achievement this is! Securing sponsorship, whether cash or in-kind support, can be a really big challenge and pulling it together with everyone available on the one night is very impressive.
Groove with me! was held on Saturday 20 August and raised over $2,300 for SASS. This generous donation will be invaluable in helping us with the support we provide for survivors of sexual violence.
Everyone at SASS was impressed by Olive’s generosity and drive – some of us even reflected that at 20 years of age we were more focussed on our own clubbing plans than thinking about fundraising. And in addition to managing a large public party and turning 21, Olive also managed to graduate the week after Groove with me!
Congratulations and thank you for your support Olive, you are truly an inspiration.
We would also like to acknowledge and thank everyone who supported Olive in putting Groove with me! together and kindly contributed services and/or their own time:
- MC Brit Ay
- Acts: Cyberswitch, Phemme, ElwyHrisn, Ana Thema, The Tinderboxes
- Prize donors: Briana Erin, Toni Baker, Andrew Van de Vusse
- Volunteers: Hrisanthi Dokos, Olivia Tuckerman, Josh Crisps