In October, Touched by Olivia is hosting PLANKTOBER, a fun and easy event for everyone to get involved with.
Planktober is a fundraising initiative by Touched by Olivia to support the core of our society: our local communities.
The idea is simple. For the month of October, Touched by Olivia is asking people to raise money by planking – getting up on your elbow, pointing your toes and really building up your core!! The money raised will help create new community hubs, which create a sense of community and belonging. What better way to fight the epidemic of anxiety, depression, loneliness and social isolation?
With community at our core, planking is the perfect option. A strong core enables us to support our bodies. Similarly, a strong community enables us to support the people who live within it.
Collectively our goal is to reach 1 million minutes of planking and raise a stash of cash in the process! It sounds hairy but if you do the math, it’s only 6452 (ish) people planking for 5 mins a day. Hopefully the donations that flow through are generous, with 100% of the money raised going directly to supporting this social movement. The simple fact is, the more people we get planking, the more communities we can reach out to.
How to register - Registration is FREE!
- Visit www.planktober.org and you can Register for FREE as an Individual or Team.
- Share your Registration. Challenge a Friend to a Plank Off!
- Tag us using #planktober and #everybodycounts.
- Like and Follow us www.facebook.com/planktober and www.instagram.com/planktober_tbo.
- Send an email or post on Social Media to get your friends to Sponsor you.
- Go in the Draw to Win great prizes! Participate in our Fun Planking Days like:
- 4th Oct - Plank with your Pet.
- 9th Oct - Send us your Plank Face.
- 16th Oct - Party planking!
- 21st Oct - Plank in your best dress up!
- Take a look at the whole calendar of events and prizes www.planktober.org.
Why are we doing this?
We want to join together with other charities to rebuild and rejuvenate our communities by repurposing spaces – dusty Council halls, disused sporting sheds – to bring communities together and provide employment opportunities particularly for those facing barriers. A place for everyone, where everyone is welcome. The rise of social issues such as anxiety, depression and loneliness can all be reduced simply by being an active enabler within community. Our communities need a core. When people with different challenges but also a range of skills, and opportunities come together what we see is a sense of purpose and belonging which is really, really valuable.
TBO has a track record of creating vibrant places that bring communities together. We have built over 35 inclusive playspaces around Australia, which allow children of all abilities and their parents and carers to come together. We started in Five Dock, Sydney with Livvi’s Place playground. Our first "Living Room” will be built by the community there. Funds raised will be used to drive connections between Councils, charities, communities and academics around the country to bring this vision to life in every community.
This new social movement also focuses on creating more social enterprise opportunities and place activations within communities. Typically charities tend to work in isolation so TBO wants to establish a Charity Collective to bring and bring like minded organisations together for a shared purpose. This will allow us to have closer contact with the people we support, amplify the social impact through economies of scale and to generate millions of dollars in social value.
Touched by Olivia started this collective thinking before COVID. It was driven by a desire to revitalise and enhance what was already going on in the community. Now with COVID impacting every aspect of our life, Touched by Olivia sees this movement as a critical platform from which to rebuild and rejuvenate our communities where spaces are repurposed and social enterprises are thriving under a collective service offering. Planktober is a fun and easy way to raise funds. Everyone can get involved. It also signals the start of a vital conversation. What do people want to see in their community, and how can we work more collaboratively to drive community connections and create a more inclusive environment? By partnering with charities, and organisations such as councils, which are often the guardians of these spaces, Touched by Olivia can be the facilitator that brings this collective together.
Justine Perkins, Founder of Touched by Olivia particularly loves this quote: “In a world where the social fabric seems to be rapidly fraying, the economy is uncertain and the future of the planet is at risk, is there a better way to hit the reset button than to come back to the neighbourhood level and begin to genuinely rely on one another.” - Amanda Abrams
Justine goes on to say, "This is a movement that has to happen. We have no choice but to look after one another. Imagine the joy we can create if whole communities work together to bring our vision of a Living Room to life where everybody counts and everybody belongs. We've done this before with our playspaces, and we will do it again!"
To get your plank on go to www.planktober.org
If you are interested in sponsoring our campaign or would like to activate your community, please contact justine@touchedbyolivia.com.au
A bit about Touched by Olivia
Touched by Olivia was established in 2007 in memory of baby Olivia Perkins who passed away from a rare disease at 8 months old. Since that time, Touched by Olivia (TBO) has been changing lives by bringing communities together through play. With over 35 inclusive playspaces built across Australia in Olivia's memory, TBO knows what makes a community connect. In 2018, TBO’s dedication to inclusive play culminated in the NSW Government releasing a set of principles titled “Everyone Can Play” for councils to apply to all new and upgraded playspaces in NSW. As other States and Territories are following suit, TBO is proud to see more inclusive playspaces being built all around Australia. Adding to this success, TBO has now formed a partnership with Variety - The Children’s Charity NSW/ACT to help achieve its dream of ensuring that an inclusive playspace lives in every community within Australia. So keep an eye out for the jointly branded “Variety Livvi’s Place” coming to a community near you!
To further build upon Olivia’s legacy, TBO is continuing to keep inclusiveness at the heart of all it does. With a heightened focus on driving community connections, TBO is seeking support from like minded charities, government, corporates and changemakers to create a social movement to harness social capital and enhance local assets that strengthen community. Building on its social enterprise cafe concept coupled with community spaces, through this movement TBO will facilitate opportunities that enable and activate communities across a spectrum of ages, abilities, cultures and challenges that foster inclusiveness, connection and a sense of belonging. With this bottom up approach, social issues such as mental health, disability barriers, loneliness and social isolation can be addressed in a positive and sustainable way. Like the inclusive playspace model, this initiative will also be replicable, so by partnering with TBO, more communities across Australia will reap the benefits.
Planktober is TBO’s initiative to drive this social movement and raise funds to supportcommunities at their CORE. TBO is proud to announce its first community partners, the City of Canada Bay, Let’s Get Going, and Communities for Communities and is excited to be working together on the Living Room project next to Livvi's Place, Five Dock.