The Front Steps Project. Kat Leppard and Brad Barrow with Rosie, (left) Buddy, and Olive. Photo / Supplied
The Front Steps Project. Kat Leppard and Brad Barrow with Rosie, (left) Buddy, and Olive. Photo / Supplied
I've always thought that you are one bit of bad luck away from being in need of the Tauranga Community Foodbank's services.
Covid-19 is about as bad as luck comes really huh? Many locals have had their entire financial, let alone food, situation changed overnight throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
So it warms the cockles of my mid-30s heart when I hear that the foodbank has had donations of an entire Tauranga corner dairy's stock (purchased by one individual and donated), or that Legacy Funerals bought $1000 worth of bread from The Artisan Bread Bakers in Pyes Pa and donated it to the foodbank.
Then this week I heard that close to $6000 dollars is heading towards the Tauranga Community Foodbank from a thing called The Front Steps Project.
Being the nosy radio announcer I am I wanted to know what this was and how it worked and who do I give the credit too.
Turns out her name is Alisha Taylor and I already know her! Man I love how small Tauranga is at a time like this.
I'm a celebrant and she's a great wedding photographer, easy connection. The Ormerod Family.
What I didn't realise until this week is that, even in the face of basically 100 per cent of her photography business being on hold during this pandemic (ie: no income) she's generous to a fault.
The Front Steps Project involves her and a couple of other amazing local photographers going to people's houses and taking pics of the family that lives there, standing out in front of their house. Simple.
It's a win for the family because they get a professional family photo taken, in a very memorable situation. But it could be your workplace or your flat, doesn't have to be just family!
It's a win for the photographer because they get to keep their creative juices flowing (from a distance of 2m of course) and make new contacts and share their brilliant work (and get local media to sing their praises am I right).
And, most importantly, it's a win for the foodbank, getting the proceeds.
Those proceeds are whatever the family that gets photographed wants to pay. Could be a dollar, could be $500. There's no pressure, because we've all got enough of that right now!
The real beauty in this from my point of view is this is just the start. As we continue to progress down through the alert levels in the Bay there's going to be more and more of this kind of ingenuity.
So I guess this is my call to you to get in touch with me when you see any of this kind of thing. My job as a local radio announcer for The Hits BOP 95FM is to highlight the things happening right here and I can't do that unless you tell me about them.
Like, I know about The Front Steps Project because a local told me about it and now look where it's gone… TVNZ's 7 Sharp has just announced that Alisha Taylor and The Front Steps Project are this week's ASB Good as Gold winners; $2500 donated to Tauranga Community Foodbank and $2500 goes to Alisha.
And won't that be a welcome relief for a photographer right now!
I choose to see progressively coming out of lockdown as an opportunity to be creative in the way we do business and raise money in the BOP.
For a region that officially knocks off work they earliest in the country on a Friday (3.05pm btw), it's time to follow The Front Steps Project's lead and, well, not work longer, work harder, work smarter, just work towards something.
Where do you start? Will@thehits.co.nz. That's my email. Send me one with what you're doing or an idea and I'll do whatever I can to help get it out there.
Talk soon then.
Let's recover together!
- Will Johnston is the local 9am-3pm host for The Hits Bay of Plenty 95FM. He's also a celebrant and MC. Follow Will on Instagram on @radiowill.
