Amanda's Mighty Mercy Mission

I’m gonna challenge you: you’d be hard-pressed to meet many who’ve endured more atrocities in one lifetime to turn their experiences into making society richer like I have. Big claim, right?

I suffered a harrowing childhood: 7yrs' sexual abuse by 8 perpetrators, domestic violence, maternal abuse, suicide attempts, Dad leaving us as children & dying young. Not allowed to attend his funeral, our names aren't on his gravestone as if we've never existed. But his ex wife is. Unable to take anymore, I left home & school at 15 with 2 years' high-school education.

Cut to 2013, & I was the powerhouse of NZ's modelling industry & co-founder of Red11 Models. I scouted, inspired & ignited 1000's from models, talent, artists & photographers both locally & internationally. I’ve helped build people, businesses, brands, charities & their bank accounts. I'm a serious life changer, I've made society richer. And you probably haven’t even heard of me.

But you can Google me. And I’m in an ambassador for The US PROJECT book with 49 men & women on how we survived, conquered &/or turned our experiences of sexual violation into helping others.

NOW I WANT TO INSPIRE HOPE, IGNITE CHANGE & GIVE OPPORTUNITIES I'VE GIVEN SO MANY PRIVLEGED PEOPLE TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST: OUR AT-RISK/VULNERABLE IN SMALLER LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES. BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE SAME ACCESS, RESOURCES OR FINANCES AS LARGER CITIES/TOWNS DO.

If you check out some of the staggering stats & costs (below) on offending, abuse, family violence, suicide & mental health, you'll see why the work is URGENT.

HOW DID I GO FROM 'AT-RISK TO SAVING SOCIETY A FORTUNE?

I was gifted a modelling course voucher from my grandmother, a woman who saw potential in me I couldn’t see in myself, nailing my 1st modelling job on my 17th birthday.

I never dreamed what I created with a single opportunity in a modelling course would end up saving my life, enable me to help countless others to save/expand their lives, or save society a fortune, let alone make society richer because of what I had experienced, learned, & pass on.

I'm clearly passionate about being the change - I've created Bridge The Gap Project. We help people from all walks of life with a focus on at-risk/vulnerable women & youth who’ve been incarcerated or in the social development services system through providing engaging, creative, healing, confidence-building programmes that help people identify, create & attract opportunity.

I’ve delivered programmes across a variety of sectors, including:

*Auckland Women’s’ Correctional Facility

*Whakatakapokai Care and Protection Residence (secure)

*Korowai Manaaki Youth Justice Residence (secure)

*Various youth justice sectors in Napier, Hastings, Waitakerie, Manurewa

*Child protection services across Auckland (Oranga Tamariki in NZ)

Ronald Regan said, ‘We can’t help everyone. But everyone can help someone.’

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WHAT DO I WANT FROM YOU?

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On May 3rd, I celebrated my 50th birthday.

If I can do what I did having survived what I did with nothing but me, a single opportunity & some faith from my grandmother, imagine what I could do this birthday month with my sleuth of power, wisdom, experience, social media, connections & love?!

So rather than a party, dinners or stuff, I'm marking this milestone by reaching, teaching & inspiring people in lower socio-economic communities how to be more, NO EXCUSES.

So if I’ve motivated, impacted or inspired you, made you money, changed your life, given you opportunity, connected you with others who helped you or unlocked your potential, all I want from you is THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE CUP OF COFFEE.

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HOW MUCH DO I WANT TO RAISE?

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My goal is a lofty $20,000, equating to 4,000 people giving $5 each. While we all know the saying, ‘Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, he’ll eat forever’, Jay-Z said, ‘You can not heal what you never reveal’. So we need to heal people to engage people. ONLY THEN can we enable them to work towards becoming contributing members of society.

And once you know how to fish, you can teach others how to heal, and fish, like I did.

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WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?

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ALL money raised goes to:

*varied programme delivery & inspirational speaking for at-risk/vulnerable women & young people at low socio-economic schools, communities & groups with a focus on the Manawatu, Bay of Plenty & Whangarei regions.

*resources/travel/costs

*facilitators/sewers/photographers (for transformational photo shoots)

*40 US PROJECT books (see below) at various organisations throughout New Zealand

In honour of my birthday & grand/mothers, we’ll be closing our page at 12am MAY 31ST.

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WHY SO URGENT?

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1. OUR STATS:

FACT: Our stats for imprisonment, sexual abuse, domestic violence, mental health, suicide & children of parents in prison have escalated over the last 3 years making these people ‘at-risk/vulnerable’. ‘At-risk/vulnerable’ are people who've been violated, neglected, abused, beaten, bullied or manipulated. Many go on to continue what they know.

Each year in New Zealand, it’s estimated:

* family violence costs $4.1 – 7 billion

* the prisoner housing cost is $900million+ with women costing an average of $302 PER DAY

*only 10 in 100 sexual abuse cases are reported. Of those, only 3 will make it to court, & of those 3, only 1 will end in a conviction

*there are 20,000 children with parents in prison

* 76% of family violence incidents are NOT reported to Police. In 2016, 118, 910 incidents of family violence were reported, equating to 1 REPORTED incident about every 5 minutes

*a young person (under 25) takes their lives approximately every 63 hours

These cycles are costing us more than just fiscally. What THEY’RE doing and not doing is affecting and costing us all. And what WE’RE doing and NOT doing is affecting & costing us all.

2. NOTHING CHANGES UNTIL WE TAKE ACTION.

My father, upon realising he'd lose his battle with Leukemia, instructed lawyers to change his will from his ex-wife to his kids. Upon completion of the paperwork, he said, ‘Leave it there. I’ll sign it tomorrow’. His tomorrow never came. Yet it made our tomorrows so much more difficult.

My point? Don't wait for what others put off 'til tomorrow what we can do today.

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HOW DOES WHAT I DO HELP SOCIETY?

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HEARTSPEAK RAISES MONEY & AWARENESS FOR CHARITIES, PROJECTS & PEOPLE.

Jay-Z said 'You can not heal what you do not reveal'. Engagement is our BIGGEST CHALLENGE.

HEARTSPEAK a collective of creatives who provide programmes, mentorship & opportunities for charities, projects & people. Our HEARTSPEAK programmes take people on an engaging, creative healing journey where we get mostly pre-loved clothing, cushions, tea towels frames, plates & mirrors, up-cycle/embellish them, then they can either keep, gift or sell their work in selected stores, at events or on our international platform.

Each HEARTSPEAK piece is a way to tell stories, make the ordinary extraordinary, beautify the ugly & open up dialogue in a safe environment with people who've been through it. And our pieces are sold around the world.

We also provide transformational photo shoots, arrange scholarships/mentorship & connect people with our powerful networks.

Through our regular Facebook lives, we empower & engage local communities & people to raise money & awareness & utilise our networks, knowledge, experience, social media & platforms for those who need help. So we maintain connection after programmes/events are finished.

During March/April, for example, we contributed to raising $20k+ for Whanganui Women’s Refuge.

In 2017, six HEARTSPEAK art/fashion pieces raised $5k for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite.

We’re also on a mission to turn $200 Cotton On vouchers into $2,000 by ‘Heartspeaking’ clothes then selling them on our international online platform with funds going to Whanganui Women’s Refuge. So they get to utilise our platform and social media, experience and knowledge & gain crucial access to both national/international support they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise.

2. A STORY OF A WOMAN INCARCERATED 3 TIMES IN A YEAR.

I met a woman in prison who’d been incarcerated 3 times in a year for serious offences. After doing our youth development programme she was released & hasn’t returned to prison since. At a cost of $302/day to house her, that’s a saving of approx. $233,990 (& counting) to the taxpayer.

Furthermore, we gained a visual art scholarship for her, engaged her to help us inspire other at-risk young people & connected her with mentors within our powerful networks.

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GIVEAWAYS

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We’ll be tracking & sharing loads of our journey via Instastories, Facebook Lives, social media & press. So please like/engage. The more visibility we have, the more we can do, sooner.

We're doing giveaways incl HEARTSPEAK patches & plates. Someone will win a personal HEARTSPEAK sesh (via Facetime/in person (if in Auckland) where they’ll get to craft their own HEARTSPEAK piece.

Provide: free engaging, healing creative programmes in low socio-economic schools/communities in more remote parts of NZ & transformational confidence-building photo shoots for at-risk women/youth. Supply 40 US PROJECT books to organisations throughout NZ.