Ever tried doing something and found that by doing it you have stirred up a hornet's nest? This event has certainly done that and both James and I have been stung. We have now decided to cancel this event.
If the foundations of a building are not strong and firm and the walls correctly positioned on them then the building will never be as good as it would have been otherwise. It is the same with organisations. We thought that we were working according to God's plans but when everything seemed to be going wrong we realised that we must have gone astray somehow. Thing was where?
One of the problems was the partnership we were trying to build to set up 12 step groups collapsed. Another was that none of the funding applications we had made worked. The third was that there were problems with the second teaching event.
One of the solutions came by looking at the Celebrating Recovery programme which is another 12 step programme that is more suited to our values and can be used to help those with a wide range of issues than the previous programme. Another came when we realised that this programme should be the mainstay of what we are doing rather than the workshops. A third came when we realised that we should be staying closer to our original aims than we had been doing. Our founding documents say we should be helping those in mental distress not helping those who help them.
It was as if the first attempt at building was not good enough and had to be knocked down and rebuilt differently. We are going forwards again. If things keep on going as well and as fast as they have so far it will not be long before we have good news about when and where the Celebrate Recovery programme will be run.
We have started looking for funding again. Small amounts and large have been applied for to tackle different projects or parts of projects. This time we have better references from those who have worked with those we want to work with. Last time one of the problems was that Northern Rock Foundation had had an application from someone who had tried to work with our partners before. It turned out that their concerns were right. We know more about putting funding applications together now so we should have a better chance. However, it takes so long to get a fully considered answer that it we apply now we might have positive news in the summer so we had better get the applications sorted asap.
We spent nearly £200 trying to publicise each of the workshops, one of which we have now cancelled. This included getting posters printed, sending them out by post with cover letters. We still have some unsold DVDs and books that we have had to pay for. These workshops were quite an expensive learning experience. On top of that we have spent nearly £100 on materials for the Celebrate Recovery course so far. Donations and sales covered the cost of the room hire for the September workshop.
If you want to support us there are a number of ways you can do so. One is you can do your Christmas shopping by starting with the buy at link on each page of the web site. Every sale that comes as a result of a search starting at that page will earn us commission. Another idea is that that you could give Lily the Pink Ministries CIC a Christmas present by using the donate button on the money matters page.
