Here For Justin: A thank you note from last week's fundraiser.

I received an email from the fund raiser organizer, Pete Rigby, and am publishing it here for all to read.

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Dear All,

Firstly I apologize for the delay in responding and updating you regarding the recent fundraiser for Hanna and Rob.

It was a tremendous success and thanks to all the wonderful people, companies and organizations who donated fantastic prizes, promoted the event and together with the response from the whole community came to support by purchasing raffle tickets and providing donations. There really are too many of you to mention personally but you know who you are and a huge thank you to you all. At the final count we were able to raise over 7,000 OMR and as money keeps coming in from generous donations we expect that this may end up close to 8,000 OMR.

This is a fantastic response and should mean that there are no financial boundaries for Hanna’s complete recovery over the upcoming months. Rob has now packed up their final belongings here in Muscat and will be flying back to Australia this evening and we wish him, Hanna and all their family all the best. Rob has promised to keep providing updates and will send an email once he has had a chance to settle back in Aus. We expect Hanna too will be on the computer soon enough so look forward to hearing from her. If you wish to be forwarded these mails let me know and I will arrange for you to be put on a mailing list.

The night itself was also a great turn out with between 250 and 300 people and I believe everyone enjoyed themselves. Particular thanks on the night have to go to (in no particular order):

1.) Lorna Hensey, who did an excellent job of co-coordinating all the raffle ticket sales;

2.) Chris Holmes, An excellent MC and who also was instrumental in pulling everything together;

3.) Andy and Chris for their DJ Skills;

4.) Liam, Alan and Shane for all their pre-event input;

5.) John and the Bar Girls for setting up the venue and keeping a drink in everyone’s hand;

6.) The Rugby Club Team for all their help on the night;

7.) The Aussie Rules and Gaelic Team who helped to promote and sell the tickets;

8.) Everyone who managed to make it and for showing up in support of this cause.

I’m sure there are some people who I have forgotten to thank personally and please forgive me for this but for me the most important thing was that we showed that even if you are many miles from your family, friends and loved ones and feel you have no one to turn to there is a community here that can and will support you in times of need. Everyone should be very pleased to hear about this and can congratulate themselves for their involvement. It makes me very pleased to be here in Oman and be part of this special community.

Finally – I attach a couple of pictures from the night for those who were unable to attend.