Alicia Heron's Fundraising Journey

Introducing Luigi the Lugie, I got him when I went up to Skyline to say goodbye to everyone and I will be taking photos of him through out our travels. This is to show the start of our journey, with him and my suitcase!

9 Sleeps until I board the plane. My Visa is confirmed and I am 99% packed. Started saying farewell to a few special people this week. Mum was sad - I will miss people but I am too excited to be upset!

24 Sleeps To Go!
Flights are booked, leaving Auckland on the 17th of January. Travelling through Dubai, followed by 4 days in Rome with all the other students in Europe, then onto my host family on Saturday the 21st.
This morning we met my host family on Skype, they are a lovely family with two daughters aged 16 and 12. They live in Como, right up the top of Italy near the border of Switzerland. A bit overwhelming for Mum and Dad and India but super exciting for me.

I have just made my last payment to STS in Sweden where the exchange company is based! What a great feeling! Should have a host family and a city sorted by the end of November. Time to focus on my exams!

GOAL ACHIEVED!

What an amazing 2 years of fundraising. I have officially reached the $15,000 target which pays for my entire 10 month school exchange. This includes my flights, transfers, welcome camp, host family accommodation, meals and education. There have been thousands of chocolate bars sold, loads of family photos taken, the cities biggest garage sale, bunny rabbit rocks galore, Lotto Draws throughout and 2 amazing quiz nights. I could not have even begun any of this fundraising journey without my amazing Mum and Dad encouraging me and supporting me to work hard and keep going. I will be forever grateful to you both for your ongoing support and love. Thank you for nagging your workmates, getting up early, deliveries, helping gather prizes, the list goes on. My sister India and brother Lachy, thank you for buying lotto draw tickets and chocolates, for being at my fundraising events and being so patient while Mum and Dad put so many hours into supporting my fundraising journey.
To ALL of you reading this, near and far... None of this would have been possible without your incredible support. Weather you donated to the garage sale, had a family photo taken, purchased chocolates, purchased rocks, bought a lotto draw ticket, attended a quiz night or helped at an event... OR Just shared a post or sent me your well wishes... Thank you. It has been an incredibly humbling experience and I have learnt so much about myself and all you wonderful people throughout the past 2 years. As amazing as it has been, it is a nice feeling to no longer be wondering what the next fundraiser is. I will never be able to thank you all enough. I will pop updates on here still as I receive more information about my placement in Italy. Tanto Amore, Alicia.

Hey everyone,
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came and supported my quiz night! It was an incredible turn out and a wonderful night. I made a total of $1,630 on the night which was a great way to finish my fundraising journey. I also want to say a huge thank you to Our Backyard Pub and all the other businesses that supported me: New World Westend Unichem Central Pharmacy Rotorua ZORB Rotorua aMAZEme Lone Star Rotorua Rotorua Canopy Tours Skyline Rotorua Mini Golf Rotorua Secret Spot Hot Tubs PAK'n SAVE Rotorua

Massive shout out to our amazing sponsors for tomorrow nights Quiz Night.

New World Westend
Ralphs Auto Shop
Central Pharmacy
ZORB
Amaze Me
Lone Star Rotorua
Skyline Skyrides
Pak n Save Rotorua
Canopy Tours
Mini Golf Rotorua
Secret Spot

And of course Richie and the Team at Our Backyard Pub!

Hi Everyone - I am having my LUCKY LAST big fundraiser on the 24th of August. It is a Fun Quiz Night here in Rotorua. I have 7 teams but I can still have 2 more. If you think you can get 8 friends, family or colleagues together to have a great night out then please let me know. It would be awesome to fill the venue. Please hep if you can! Thanks so much to Plunket Rotorua for having two teams, Stacey Lee Jones, Rachael McGarvie, Donna Burns Linda Fuller and Denise Gray. 🥰

I am so happy to inform all my supporters that I have now officially fundraised $10,000. My host family and school application has been sent to the partner organisation WEP in Italy, who will be taking care of me while I am over there. I will be organising another quiz night with some awesome prizes and I have another Jack and Jill photo fundraiser booked for June. Thank you to everyone supporting this incredibly humbling journey.

Congratulations to the winners of my last lotto drop. The first ball out was number 2 which was Priya! The bonus ball was number 35, unfortunately this number was not taken but I have decided to split the win between numbers 34 and 36 which belong to Denise Watson and Wendy! Thank you so much for everyone’s support and congratulations to our winners!

Hey everyone, thank you so much to the people who have purchased lotto drop tickets and/or rocks. I still have 20 lotto drop tickets left for this weekend, it will be the last lotto drop I do before I go so please let me know if you would like a ticket, either leave a comment or text me. Thank you!

10 Months To Go! 😬