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Australians raise over $100K for sex slave children

Announcement posted by Pat Mesiti 24 Nov 2016

ABOUT 100 business people from around Australia raised $100,078 for the She Rescue Home in Cambodia for sexually exploited girls last night at the 8th annual La Dolce Vita Gala Charity event at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast last night. (23/11)
Iconic Australian mindset mentor/ author Pat Mesiti, who is urging Australians to take the focus off themselves and contribute to others to help reduce high depression and suicide rates this festive season, hosted the event.
She Rescue Home founder Leigh Ramsey, who is based on the Gold Coast, said she was completely amazed and overwhelmed by the generosity of people at the event and said this was the largest one-off amount raised since the charity founded eight years ago.
The home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, provides a safe-haven for girls aged six to 15, who have worked as sex slaves, been prostituted, trafficked or had any form of sexual exploitation.
“This will go along way in continuing the care and support of girls in our home at the moment, for those yet to come and for those who have been re-integrated and continue to be supported with social workers and schooling for three years,” Mrs Ramsey said.
“One girl costs us $12,000 each year as they come to our home with nothing. We have to pay for things like social workers, house mums, for beds, our own transport, new sewing centre and education.
“I’m incredibly grateful for this donation. It will make a huge difference to what we can do.”
Pat Mesiti has raised more than $1m for charities over the last eight years including the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, Day of Difference with Ron and Sophie Delizio, Teen Challenge, Vision Rescue, The A21 Campaign and the Irene Gleeson Foundation.
From being dyslexic and told he would ‘never amount to anything’ by a few teachers from LaSalle Catholic College in Bankstown, Sydney, Mr Mesiti has gone on to publish nine books, translated in 12 languages, and sell 700,000 copies worldwide.
He was raised in an extremely dysfunctional home in Sydney to Italian parents, rife with violence and alcoholism. He has suffered bouts of depression, had suicidal tendencies, divorce, misinformed media scrutiny, public ridicule and almost complete financial loss, yet has gone on to speak onstage before millions of people worldwide alongside the likes of Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Jim Rohn.
“The only way I could turn my situation around was to contribute,” Mr Mesiti said.
There’s never been a monument erected to a taker. The highest form of greatness is what you give to other people - your time, your talent, your treasure. Think about your community this Christmas - what can you do? For example, can you put food packages together?”
Mr Mesiti founded Youth Alive NSW, which attracted about 50,000 teens every year to a free event to help them find purpose and direction in life. He spoke to nearly one million high school students from 1990 to 2001.
As the Director of Teen Challenge NSW, the father of three daughters took it from virtual bankruptcy to help thousands of young Australian men become drug and alcohol free.
In Australia, suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25, according to a report by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian.
Last year, from November to December 2015, the Mind Charity trust conducted a study into the pressures of Christmas for those with mental health issues. The results founds that more than half of participants (52 per cent) have considered harming themselves at Christmas, while nearly half (45 per cent) have considered taking their own life.
Mr Mesiti, now living on the Gold Coast, has five tips for those feeling the pain over the festive season. 1. Get help, 2. Re-assess what’s important to you. 3. Plug into solid friendships 4. Remove toxic people from your life 5. Realise this is only a chapter in the story of your life.
“If you’re feeling depressed, get out and help someone else. Get your mind off you and on to others. As hard as it is, I think it’s the greatest remedy of all,” he said.
“Life isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about what you give. Money is like manure, if you hoard it, it stinks. If you spread it, it makes stuff grow.
“Contribution has always been about helping others and is a huge part of my life.”
For more information, visit www.mesiti.com.
To donate, visit www.itsnotok.com or www.sherescuehome.org