I was most inspired and humbled to introduce Moira Kelly AO as our 2018 Ruth Langley Luncheon guest speaker.

Moira was funny and engaging – with an extraordinary tale to tell. Her unassuming stories about staying focused, getting things done and trusting her instincts, were inspiring and heart breaking. I am still laughing about the world network of nuns who identify the children most in need (and then, hand-ball them to Moira.) Fortunately, she chose to tell us stories with happy endings. It is good to know we have a woman of such capacity and with so much grace here, in Melbourne.

Our Ruth Langley Luncheon is not however, just about the speaker. We also had the opportunity to stop for a moment and enjoy the company of old and new friends. For the Parents and Friends Association, it was a great occasion to build relationship within our Committee and to do a small amount of fundraising for our St Catherine’s girls.

A special thank you to all 20 of our PFA Committee volunteers who freely gave their time, talents, energy and creative skills to get our Luncheon organised. The Wednesday ‘wrap and chat’ for example saw us come together for a coffee, conversation and morning tea as we wrapped all 250 recycled shopping bags, as gifts.

Jo Livianidis was responsible for styling and that included everything from the table centre lemon trees, to shopping bags and tags, and the penny raffle. With her team of Susie Farrer, Mandy Coupe and Jane White, they made everything look good.

The Penny Raffle was a new initiative and the tickets worked a treat – thanks especially to Pauline Wang who did a last-minute dash to buy extra raffle tickets (that didn’t have the same number.) Lisa James provided thoughtful and thorough advice on logistics.

The menu was great, thanks to Jane White and her wine-tasting team. Sherrie Zeng did a wonderful job organising a table of our Chinese mothers. Susie Farrer organised all 24 tables and answered (with charm and great patience) at least a dozen last minute calls for tickets and changes to seating.

Thanks also to the rest of the team for being organised, supportive and helping to make the day fall into place: Danielle Podolak, Julie Caldecott, Cathie Dunlop, Kirsty Gilmour, Mish Howitt, Sarah Low, Renee Morton and Michelle Wang.

Each PFA member donated or secured one item for the Silent Auction or the Penny Raffle. Many of these items came from within the school community. A special thank you to all those wonderful families who donated or who bought tickets and auction items. Each of these gifts were collated and beautifully organised for the table booklet, thanks to Sam Wood and Meredith Taylor. Lara Stocco won and donated the terrarium to Moira for the children.

Last to leave on the day was Moira Kelly and her little girl from Gaza, Shahd.

Thanks to Angelina Barber – who helped me load the last of the lemon trees into the car, and to Lisa James, Susie Farrer and our Treasurer Row Mytton for their accounting prowess. Our net profit from the day was just over $10,000, which is fantastic! This money will go towards our commitment to provide $25,000 per year (for four years) for the new Village Green in the Junior School. Additionally, we donated $2,000 to the Moira Kelly Creating Hope Foundation.