Fundraising Gift Shop
2020 is OVER and so is the 2020 Gift Shop and the ‘Tinsel Island’ Christmas display.
But the GoFundMe is still active!
Our Christmas fundraisers gained us a little over $500.
I am the coordinator of the Castle of Kindness Refugee Sponsorship Group. We are currently participating in the Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative‘s Mentor Program in preparation for sponsoring a refugee family in 2021-2022. Sponsoring a family means taking care of them in a myriad of ways: we’d pay their airfares, meet them at the airport, take them to a house we’d set up for them, and stay in close contact for a full year. We’d help them with English, with paperwork, with the school system, with weird Australian customs, and with meeting more local people (and organisations) so they can grow their own lives here in Canberra. We’d also back them financially for their first year—that is, if they were unable to work for whatever reason, we would pay for all of their living expenses until they could go onto Centrelink/Disability Payments.
If you’d like to donate directly, you can email me at fellissimo@hotmail.com with ‘Castle of Kindness’ in the subject line, or simply donate to the GoFundMe.
This is our beautiful sponsorship group. Please don’t comment on the fact that four of us are floating heads; they’re very self-conscious about it.
From November 1-December 31 this year, we are running a Fundraising Gift Shop. Authors, artists, and others have donated a huge collection of wonderful items and services. Every dollar you spend here (with the exception of postage fees) will go directly into our refugee fund.
HOW TO BUY STUFF: Comment here with your email, and pay by PayPal using fellissimo@hotmail.com OR mention your preferred payment method in your comment and I’ll email you details. Most of the books here are donated by the author, so please tell us who you would like them signed to! Some of us will even gift-wrap and label them for you so they can be sent directly to your loved ones! Please allow lots of time for postage this year.
BOOOOOOKKKSSSSS!!!!!
For younger kids:
Octopus and Family: Kid-Friendly Edition by Annabelle Lee
A picture book of terrible octopus puns that kids (and weird adults) love.
Remaining Copies: 3
Cost: $20
Welcome to Australia by Felicity Banks
This is a bilingual picture book designed for migrant kids. There are three versions: English-Indonesian, English-Mandarin, and English-Spanish.
Please note: Although this book has been accepted by a publisher, it is not yet finished, let alone printed. It is unlikely to be ready in time for Christmas.
Remaining copies: 10
Cost: $25
For kids 8+ but each one of these is truly for all ages (arranged roughly in order of youngest recommended reader age)
The Adventurous Princess and other Feminist Fairy Tales by Erin-Clare Barrow
This is a beautifully illustrated book of short stories that are both familiar and new.
Remaining Copies: SOLD OUT
Cost: $25
Magic in the Mail: Feuding Fae by Felicity Banks and many more
This is a story told through three parcels that are posted to you once a week for three weeks. Each parcel contains several pieces of art, at least one physical object, and a question for you to answer (but getting it wrong doesn’t hurt the story at all).
A phoenix child is missing. Have the dragons taken her?
Remaining Copies: 20ish
Cost: $70
(You can buy them here if you want more payment options and/or want to pay postage.)
Anne of Green Gables graphic novel (not by one of my author friends)
Remaining Copies: SOLD OUT SORRY
Cost: $20
Books (an illustrated book about books, with great retro illustrations)
Not by one of my author friends, so can’t be signed for you.
Remaining Copies: 1
Cost: $20
The Monster Apprentice and/or The Princess and the Pirate by Felicity Banks
Rahana is a world like Narnia, but with pirates.
Book 1: When Dance’s island is threatened, she knows their only hope of survival lies with the monsters that killed her sister.
Book 2: Princess Ana is sent to find her long-lost grandmother and bring her home. But Captain Sol is a vicious pirate, and she has her own plans.
Remaining Copies: 20ish
Cost $18 per book
(You can buy them here if you want more payment options and/or want to pay postage.)
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
This series is a beautiful, funny, bittersweet treat. I don’t want to say any more in case I ruin it.
Copies Remaining: It’s a secret
Cost: $18
Be Warned! These will be posted from outside Australia, so if you want them to arrive by Christmas (despite COVID-19), you need to buy them NOW.
For young adults and adults:
The Antipodean Queen Trilogy: Heart of Brass, Silver and Stone, and Iron Lights by Felicity Banks
High adventure in a magical steampunk Australia. Each book has a bonus interactive short story at the back.
Copies Remaining: 20ish
Cost: $24 each or $60 for all three.
(You can buy them here if you want more payment options and/or want to pay postage.)
Magic in the Mail: Emmeline’s Empire by Felicity Banks and others
This story is a steampunk romance told through letters, objects and art (similar to Magic in the Mail: Feuding Fae except it is sent as a single parcel). It is set in the same universe as The Antipodean Queen Trilogy (and a stripped-down version of the story is included with Iron Lights but doesn’t include any of the objects or most of the art).
Remaining Copies: 20ish
Cost: $60
(You can buy them here if you want more payment options and/or want to pay postage. Or want to buy it in a pack with the three novels.)
Murder in the Mail: A Bloody Birthday by Felicity Banks and others
This is a cozy murder mystery told through letters, objects, and art (and set in Canberra). It is similar to the Magic in the Mail stories except. . . well, there’s a murder. There are clues throughout (including in the pictures) but, again, if you don’t catch the clues it won’t ruin the story for you. It was originally sent in 8 parcels but now it’s packaged into one. You can ration them out over 8 weeks if you have VERY good self-control.
Remaining Copies: 20ish
Cost: $70
(You can buy them here if you want more payment options and/or want to pay postage.)
Ashes of Olympus Series: The Way Home and The Ivory Gate by Julian Barr
These books are retellings of the ancient myths—full of battles, betrayal, and honour.
Remaining Copies: 2 of each book
Cost: $25
Cassandra by Kathryn Gossow
When the author told me she lives in a small town but hopes her kids get OUT I understood this book.
Remaining Copies: 3
Cost: $24
Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys by BG Hilton
A rollicking steampunk adventure with a murder mystery (or two) at its heart.
Remaining Copies: 10
Cost: $25
The Chronicles of the Pale Trilogy: The Pale, Broad Plain Darkening, and The Ruined Land by Clare Rhoden
Dystopian fiction with flawed characters and a compelling story.
Remaining Copies: 3 of Book 1, 1 each of the others
Cost: $24
Please note: These will not be signed as they’re already in Canberra, and Rhoden is not.
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
Y’all. This is Eurovision in space. It was also a Hugo finalist or whatever.
Eurovision. In Space.
Copies Remaining: It’s a secret.
Cost: $25
Be Warned! These will be posted from outside Australia, so if you want them to arrive by Christmas (despite COVID-19), you need to buy them NOW.
The Dark Poet interlinked short story collection by Kathryn Gossow
I haven’t read this book, since I know it’s too dark for me.
Copies Remaining: 3
Cost: $19
Grasping at Water by Carmel Bendon
A young woman is pulled, alive, from Sydney Harbour but the mysteries about her only deepen from there. This is a tale of motherhood, loss, and belief.
Remaining Copies: 4
Cost: $24
SERVICES
Babysitting (Canberra only)
Availability: 5 sessions
Cost: $20/hour for 1 kid; additional $5 per additional kid
Cleaning (North side only)
This is a bit different to everything else on this list, because the money would NOT go into the refugee fund—the cleaner is a new migrant, and she is looking for cleaning work. So the money goes directly to her.
Availability: Unlimited, including regular cleaning
Cost: $60/hour
Dinner (served at West Belconnen)
Menu and details are here.
Availability: 5 sessions
Cost: $100 per person
Editing (via email only) by Felicity Banks
Do you have a manuscript* that needs to be looked over by eyes other than yours? Do you need proofreading, a structural edit, or both?
Availability: 2 full-length manuscripts
Cost: $100 per thousand words; $150 for both a structural and a line edit.
*I will not edit books with certain types of violence
A Song Written and Sung For You (virtual only) by Robbie Matthews
You can check out his music and creativity here.
Availability: 1
Cost: $50
Tutoring: Maths (to Year 10) English (from Kindy to university level including English as a Second language), Indonesian (to Year 10), Adult Literacy.
Availability: 10 sessions
Cost: $50/hour
ART AND MUSIC
Diamond Pictures (some framed) by Erika Sargeant
This one is framed, and the frame has a stand so you can put it on a tale or shelf. It is 20 x 30cm.
This one is 20 x 25cm.
This one is 25 x 30cm. There is a frame available, but it would require a mat as the frame is larger.
This one is 20 x 30cm, framed (but there is no hook so you’d need to add string or something like that).
This is 20 x 15cm.
Availability: 1 of each (with a leopard on the way)
Cost: $15 unframed, $20 framed
A4 professionally framed Art Prints by Graham Gercken and Emma Losin (frames are A3 size)
These are really hard to photograph through the glass. . .
(scroll up to the Magic in the Mail: Emmeline’s Empire book to see what she actually looks like)
Availability: 1 of each
Cost: $50 each
Custom Framed Original Painting “Full Moon Beaming” by Michelle “Seashell” Bedford (approximately A2 size)
Availability: 1
Cost: $300
3D Magnets and Shadow Boxes by Wendy Bloomfield (including custom creations)
The mini boxes above can be magnets but I think they’re better hung on a wall. Only the one on the left is still available, but they can be made to order (and can even include small items that you’d like included such as single earrings). This one is still available, but has no magnets:
“Steampunk Laboratory” custom shadow box (not available but you can order another laboratory to be made for you).
“Beach House” custom shadow box. This one is not available, but you can order an original beach house shadow box.
Availability: Every item is unique, and can be made to order
Cost: $5 small; $10 mini shadow boxes; $25 larger shadow boxes.
3D Labyrinth Paintings by Wendy Bloomfield
Availability: Every labyrinth is unique
Cost: $10-$30 depending on size
Music by the Littmus Steampunk Band
This brilliant Australian steampunk band is well worth a listen. They specialise in story songs (not to mention albums). Check out their music here (and then email me to say which album you’d like to buy, and to arrange payment).
Availability: 10 albums
Cost: $12 for digital album
MISCELLANEOUS
Mechanics Laboratory Car with Electric Motor (new in shrink wrap)
- An extremely well-equipped laboratory where the principles of mechanics and engineering can be learned in an entertaining way.
- The game contains more than 250 components with which 50 constructions of increasing complexity can be created.
- It is even possible to build a helicopter, a motorised crane and a car with an electric engine in which a child can move the gear stick and steering wheel!
- The large illustrated scientific manual will guide the child through the various stages of assembly, which can done in complete safety.
- The concept, design, development and manufacture are entirely Made In Italy!
- Recommended age: + 8 years old.
Availability: 1
Cost: $200
Toaster Oven (Canberra/Queanbeyan only but we’ll deliver it to you)
Yes it works.
Availability: 1
Cost: $20 including delivery to any location in Canberra or Queanbeyan.
Backyard BBQ (secondhand) Canberra only
Availability: 1
This is a great BBQ that has been well loved and cared for until it was put into a shed when people moved house.
Cost: Choose your donation amount. Anything from $50 and you’ll need to pick it up from Page (Canberra).
Literally gold and diamond jewellery
9ct gold and diamonds. Matching ring and earrings.
Availability: 1
Cost: $250 including postage (in the original box) within Australia
Hey look! You made it to the end. If you didn’t see anything you like but still want to contribute, here’s our GoFundMe.
Fundraiser: Dinner For Two (or One, or up to Six)
The Castle of Kindness Refugee Sponsorship Group is running a Fundraising Gift Shop until the end of 2020. We have loads of wonderful goodies ready to be bought.
I love cooking, and I know a lot of people miss eating out. So why not make a mini restaurant at my house in West Belconnen?
This would cost $100 per person for up to six people.
Babysitting and/or designated driving would be negotiated as part of that.
Menu
Amuse-Bouche
Steamed Pork and Ginger Dumplings (with Soy Sauce, Sweet Soy Sauce, or Sweet & Sour Sauce)
Entrée
Butternut Pumpkin Soup
A mellow blend of orange vegetables with a subtle ginger kick (with optional Sour Cream and Chives). Served with Buttermilk Bread and Freshly-Churned Butter
Mains
Maple Marinated Salmon on a Bed of Coconut Sesame Rice.
Summer Salad with Baby Spinach, Danish Fetta, Tomato Medley and Lemon-Mint Dressing (with Chicken and/or Peanuts)
Desserts
Sorbet: Choice of Summer Berries, Mango, and Lemon Sorbet (or combination)
Fudge & Friends (After-Dinner Mints, Home-Made Caramel Fudge, and Byron Bay Macadamia Shortbread Bites)
Restaurant Opens 12:00pm-4:00pm and 5:30pm-9:00pm. Early dining recommended.
Friday Dinner, Saturday Lunch, or Saturday Dinner Only.
Please Note: We are not professional chefs but we’ll do our best.
Outside Dining Recommended (depending on the weather).
BYO
All dates and locations subject to change if required by COVID-19 issues.
Curious cats may or may not appear.
Questions:
- Do you require a designated driver (North side only)?
- What non-alcoholic drinks would you like (we will buy and chill them for you)?
- Would you like tea and coffee (before and/or after dinner)?
- Would you like a take-home pack of Fudge & Friends?
- Are there any menu selections you do NOT want?
- Would you prefer chicken, peanuts, both or neither in your salad?
- Which sorbets would you like?
- Do you have any food allergies, intolerances, or preferences?
The thin line between anticipation and panic
In four hours, I meet our first refugee family. I’m so excited I can’t concentrate on anything and I’m a teensy bit concerned I’ll crash the car on the way over.
Three of the seven core sponsor group members will be there, which is plenty, because I’m sure the family we’re meeting is more scared of us than we are of them. By a long way.
The more I think about all the complexities of the sponsor-sponsee relationship the more overwhelmed I become. A lot of the training was about trying to dismantle our expectations and open our minds to all the infinite differences there are between cultures. All the most offensive stuff feels self-evident. So we tend not to know what our unconscious biases are, since they’re—well, unconscious. “Normal” to us. Obvious.
Is it rude not to shake hands, or is it rude to shake hands? How long should a visitor stay at a host’s house? What gestures are casual in one culture and highly offensive in another?
All you can really do is your best, and to forgive and apologise and learn.
All I can really do is take things one step at a time.
Today is a big step. I have two pages of questions written down because we’ll have a translator (and Red Cross person) present, and we know very little. Names, ages, and little more.
So excitement and terror are intermingled today. I hope the family has at least a little bit of excitement in their own emotional cocktail.
Edited to add: Through no fault of anyone at all, the meeting was cancelled at the last minute. The Red Cross will reschedule to next week.
This is so immensely frustrating, but I know in a month or two it won’t matter. And that it’s even more stressful for the family.
2020 IF Comp: Electric word, “life”
I found the title really weird and off-putting, but maybe it’ll make sense later.
My selection process is specific to me. It feels unfair, but logically I figure that if everyone chooses games they think they’ll like then it works out? Personally I choose choice-based games that are under the 2 hour limit (theoretically I can judge it based on the first two hours of play, but that would feel too weird for me), that have not the slightest whiff of puzzles or problem solving, because I am spectacularly bad at that stuff. So not only do I hate it, but I’m well below the average person skill-wise and that feels unfair to the game.
I also choose games that aren’t too dark or scary, and I try to avoid humour too (I admire humour, but tend not to like too much of it).
The title of this one is so weird it made me think the writer doesn’t speak English well. Either that or there’s something else going on. Since the blurb etc seemed fine I’m hoping there’s a reason the title is so bizarre (or, failing that, that it’s the only bizarre part of this tale).
Onwards…
The very first segment shows considerable mastery over language, and I’m already interested (plus, Sanjay isn’t yet another oh-so-white name, which suggests the writer isn’t completely boring).
This is good. Really good. I don’t think there’s any branching at all, but it drew me in with a surprisingly light touch.
I think this will be my favourite game this year (knowing that I’ll only barely get around to my usual 5 games).
For now I’ll say 4.5 stars. I may change it to 5 later.
I still hate the title 🙂
2020 IF Comp: High Jinnks
This is a fun, flowing tale full of bickering and humour. The characters are particularly good, revealing their true selves piece by piece throughout the tale. Many choices are meaningless, but often fun all the same. It felt largely like a non-interactive story as it was fairly linear overall, hitting all the same story beats regardless of the player’s choices—but there are plenty of flavoursome bits and pieces to discover.
It is weird and sweet, and I like it.
4 Stars
2020 IF Comp: Chorus
The writing throughout is elegant; it runs along well and I didn’t spot a single spelling or grammar issue.
I’d like more choices but the ones I made are major; clearly it is a direct-branching rather than a delayed-branching story, although there are elements along the way that alter the outcome too.
It was a shame the characters didn’t really interact (although I imagine that would have doubled or even quadrupled the amount of work—true branching stories like this are HARD).
I probably did quite badly as my short-term memory is very poor and I couldn’t remember names, let alone species or talents.
Some of it was a little disjointed.
I liked the way it indicated there are three possible endings, and gave a hint for getting a better ending.
This is a well-written game with a well-developed world, but it didn’t draw me in emotionally.
Three stars.
Expectations, Power, and Gratitude
We were matched with a family the day after my last blog entry. I am deliriously excited, but haven’t written again since then because… there’s very little I can say.
I haven’t actually met any members of the family yet, and I don’t even know their names. I know their first language, their ages, their approximate location, and a few things about what our group will probably spend our time working on with them. But I can’t share any of that publicly yet.
Last Thursday four members of our core group, including me, joined about a hundred others around Australia to meet some more experienced people who could give us some advice (all via Zoom). One of the most challenging things for me was talking about the power dynamic between a sponsor group and a refugee family. How do we make decisions about what to spend money on? What do we do when a refugee disagrees with our advice (eg. Don’t look for work yet; you need to work on English acquisition first)? How do we say no if a refugee asks for something we think is unreasonable (say, a computer game)? And how do we actually develop a real friendship when all the power is on our side?
Of course the crucial thing is to help the refugees become independent of us as soon as possible, both financially and emotionally. Then they can choose whether to continue spending time with us or not.
And what do we call them? Well, at the moment almost all we know (certainly all we can say public) is that they’re a refugee family. But the sooner we STOP calling them refugees the better. (At the same time, acknowledging their refugee status is important for fundraising, and if there is a smiling, successful family to point to as proof that we’re doing a good thing, then that is extremely helpful for fundraising. But we can’t assume that the family is willing to be our poster child, and in fact that role could be actively harmful to them.)
And—this is the bit that hits home for me the most—when are they allowed to stop being grateful?
During the Zoom meeting, a highly-educated dark-skinned man talked about how he came to New Zealand as a very young child, but every time someone discovers this (and people of course ask, “Where are you from?” which is a question that anyone with non-Caucasian skin learns to dread), they say, “Oh, you must be so grateful!”
Why should he be grateful, when those born in New Zealand are not generally consciously grateful to be living in one of the safest, richest places on Earth? Being born in a great country doesn’t make a person morally superior. (Quite the opposite.)
I am what I call “Omo-white” (that is, very very white for several generations… it is not a coincidence that I am descended from a South African man on one side and Brits and Germans on the other). But I have been heavily involved in a bunch of fundraisers ever since I was nine years old, when my family was raising financial support to go to Papua New Guinea as STAs (Short-Term Assistants) for Wycliffe Bible Translators. Leaving aside the various colonialism-tinged implications of missionary work for some other blog entry, I learned young about gratitude as salesmanship.
When people gave us money, we had to be pleased and happy. We also owed them success stories further down the track. My mother wrote regular newsletters that were fun and cheerful, and that told people their money was well spent. We would focus on the stories that people wanted to hear (“This is a photo of a young woman reading the Bible in her own language for the first time”—and of course she’d be attractive, but also just a little bit exotic—perhaps she’s be in traditional clothes for a dance instead of her usual faded T-shirt) rather than the mundane or tragic (“A bunch of your money was spent getting dental work this month”, “We were robbed the other day and had to buy new clothes as a result”).
Missionary fundraising set me up well for when I had to raise $10,000 for stomach surgery. I knew immediately that I should emphasize my umbilical hernia, and call the procedure an abdominoplasty, rather than talking about my sagging belly skin and calling the procedure a tummy tuck. I also knew I needed to be careful not to complain about my health publicly for at least six months afterwards, regardless of my other disabling chronic pain conditions. No one wants to hear that their hard-earned money didn’t give me a shiny happy ever after, but only helped me a little bit.
I’m a chronic over-sharer (and an advocate for others who are disabled or mentally ill or overweight like me) so I often talk openly about my poor mental and physical health. But I’m careful to balance updates like that with humour, cat pictures, and so on. If I have a good day, I’m careful to be public about it, so people don’t get overwhelmed by all my bad days.
But even I am careful not to be ungrateful in front of someone who may…ugh… prove USEFUL in future. (And I hate that sometimes my life is bad enough that people become resources in my mind. I have gone hungry more times than I can count, and if I wasn’t married to someone with a steady income I’d probably still be going hungry regularly. As it is, I often put off necessary medical stuff for months or years because… well, that’s life with chronic illness. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And I’m wealthier than millions of people.)
That veneer of happiness and gratitude must not be something I expect from others. People needing help from others is not a moral failing, and it is not fair to expect those who have suffered more to have to put on a show for those who are more privileged.
May I remember that lesson when I am the one in the position of power.
[sorry about the lack of pics; I’m having technical issues.]
Felicity Banks 