Building of the Melbourne Hope School commences this month and is due to finish in October. This is very exciting, as while there were some initial delays due to adverse weather conditions, the completion date has only been pushed out slightly. Australian Volunteers International (AVI) will also be visiting Melbourne Hope School in August to meet with representatives from the school and Project Hope to understand and assess the feasibility of a project volunteer to work in the community/school. After this visit, AVI will submit a report including photographs of the progress and recommendations for assisting to meet identified needs. I look forward to continuing to update you on the progress of Melbourne Hope School.
All the best
David

On Sunday 17 May, I had the opportunity to share my perspectives on ‘Inspiring Leadership’ at the 2009 Australian Leadership Awards. The Future Summit Australian Leadership Awards aim to recognise and support the new generation of Australia’s leaders. You can read an abbreviated version of my speech here, australian-leadership-awards-davidmoffattspeech-170509

Recently I travelled 600km on skidoos and dogsleds up the Iditarod Trail in Alaska with my son Nick. We had an amazing 10 days as we skied, dug snow caves, photographed and survived a volcano erupting! We also raised some money for the ‘Book of Light’, a project to provide kids from the bushfire impacted areas in Victoria, aged between 6 and 12, with a physical memory of their lives. This project is a cyber safety initiative of SuperClubsPLUS. You can read all about the Book of Light project here.

The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge TV program will go to air on Network Ten nationally on Sunday 12 April at 1.30pm. This is a great opportunity to see all of the action from the event.

Visit the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge website for all of the details.

The Mark Webber Challenge is a charity event supporting the Mark Webber Foundation. The 2008 Challenge was again a fantastic experience. The Challenge has established itself as one of the most intense adventure races in the world. Telstra employee Jacinta Worland and I, partnered to compete in the Ambassadors Cup. Teamwork was paramount as we traversed a wide variety of terrain including Cradle Mountain, Dove Lake and the cliffs of Fortescue Bay. It was great to see that Team Telstra won the Van Diemen Cup! Mark Comer, Phil Barrett, Keith Mearns and Richard Palmer defended their title in the corporate teams of four.

Many leading athletes participated along with celebrity guests and corporate teams. It was fantastic to be part of the event and to have the opportunity to support such a committed Australian like Mark Webber, who despite living in the UK, sets a great example by contributing to Australian charities year in and year out. Visit the Mark Webber Challenge site to see the full wrap-up of the event at www.markwebberchallenge.com

You can also read how Telstra helped facilitate the immediate response to Mark Webber when he was injured at Now we are talking