I am extremely happy, therefore, to say that so far this has not been the case. Not only have we kept our heads above water in the administration field - monthly rental; fixing computer glitches; keeping printers operational with cartridges etc - but we have managed to actually make a profit and come out satisfyingly ahead of where we were before.
Changing the appearance of the shop front has contributed something to this, with many compliments received throughout the year as to how nice the place looks now. Also, although we still support the local arts and crafts industry wherever feasibly possible, this is a difficult area to patronise as we mostly have to accept goods at what are in affect retail prices, giving us little opportunity to make a reasonable profit. So some lines have necessarily been dropped or phased out, a lot of old stock has been sold at purchase price, and new gift lines have been ordered in from further afield to keep our shelves stocked. This unfortunately does rather blur our clean, green image by the sale of some imported goods, and carbon losses through freight, but in the end we are here to make a profit, and if we fail to do that, we cannot be in a position to help the environment.
One thing about managing to keep abreast of things financially and coping without government assistance is that it actually makes us stronger. We have the freedom now - within reason of course - to protest unacceptable government proposals, such as a dam on the Clarence River, without fear of losing the crutch they thought they were propping us up with.
Several other comments regarding the shop have been surprise at actually finding us there, tucked away quietly and unsuspected behind Annie's restaurant. This means we do need to do something more to lift our profile and raise awareness of our actual presence. We need to make over $600 a month in order not only to stay afloat, but also to be able to properly fulfill our role as environmental watch-dogs. To do this we need to draw prospective customers through the cafe, and the only ways available to us to do this (and I cannot state this strongly enough) are sweet music and conspicuous notice boards. We are extremely lucky to have Dave Funnell, who is responsible for the colourful introductory board that Annie is happy to keep at the front of her shop, so please, when you first come in to start your roster, make sure nothing is covering up or detracting from that board. It is the most vital awareness-raiser we have, and we thank Dave sincerely for his generous donation of his time, money and artistic expertise to provide it for us.
Music is the next great magnet to prospective customers, to let them know something is going on beyond the cafe, so please, even if you prefer to just sit reading a book or listening to the radio rather than fiddling with CD's and tapes, do make sure you have a good repertoire of general-appeal music playing in the background while you read, or set the radio to a good constant music station. Three or four times people have said to me that they have followed the music to find us, so it really does work. Rainforest music is wonderful for this, and never mind how loud it gets, it still manages to be relaxing and lovely.
Mainly, you may have noticed, our awareness campaign is being helped along no end by the Daily Examiner, who has regularly been finding niches for our adverts in spots that paying clients have failed to fill. For this we have to sincerely thank the Examiner's advertising sales manager, who so willingly gives us this vital exposure. In this way we have been able to advertise our events and activities totally free of charge, and are also in the process of restocking our op-shop, which was beginning to look sadly depleted.
Our wonderful pool of volunteers have, as always, been doing a magnificent job. Not only are you the foundation of the shop's success, which would collapse without you, but also the friendships built up among our group, often with much loud camaraderie and banter, undeniably help to lift the mood of the place to one of pleasant enjoyment in each other's company and what we are trying to do. It is a good image, which I for one am proud of. In this, a special mention must go to Nina, who was a delightful addition to our team, though unfortunately so briefly. Nina has now followed her itchy feet to the north of the continent in search of new experiences, and why not, when one is young and free? We wish her the very best that life can offer, and hope she returns to us before too long.
Rather than giving all our team members a special accolade, as deserved, but which would take up several pages, I'll end with a special thanks to our tireless office staff, Michael, who contributes great informative letters to the paper on important issues and is always available with help and advice on a range of issues, and Jay and Kurt who this year have designed a brilliant new website We are fortunate to have you all.
-Pat
and set us up with Broadband. This has freed us up to more fully demonstrate the strength of our submissions, and to properly advertise the many wrongs to the environment that need to be fixed. Thankfully everyone is back with us for another year, and we are hoping that Jay will again allow us to exploit his admirable talents in the movie-making field.