Holy [insert preferred rhyme], we (by which I mean you) actually did it!

Let me just start with the thing that matters most:

Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you and you and you and thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you all thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!! thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so very very very much!

By which I mean:

This past month has been intense, and this past week absolutely bonkers. I think Jenna and Davien will be posting about the trajectory of things on the CPC Facebook and Instagram pages, but in case they don’t – it was insane. Monday was stressful, because we had so far still to go, despite the stonkingly huge amounts of support we’d already been given. But then I posted here, and sent a plea out to my student list, and Jenna sent another nudge out, and a few other people started posting about it again too … and things started rolling in.

Every time I refreshed the page, there was another donation. And another. And another. And another. Wave after wave after wave. I mean, I’m not saying that I’ve spent most of my awake time since then refreshing the page on my phone or my computer, trying to recapture the high of that day, but that’s largely because I’ve had to drive my car. And wash.

We were humbled, moved, surprised, delighted and incredibly relieved to be heading in to the Boosted Gala on Wednesday night sitting on $18,000. It was a fun night, but we were a little concerned after the gala that we hadn’t managed to pick up as many new donations as the other groups did, so Wednesday night was less comfortable. But then we started Thursday, hitting refresh, refresh, and donations were still coming in. And they just kept on trickling in. Sometimes by small amounts, sometimes by big amounts. Rolling in, as a southerly downpour made the gutters sing and filled my sleep with some seriously weird (and probably very Freudian) dreams …

This morning I had breakfast with Jenna (who is the official CPC / Boosted link), and the campaign was sitting at $19,450 or something similar. We were both refreshing our phones, but trying to be cool about it, and agreeing that yes, we’d definitely make it, and probably today. By lunchtime! Yeah. Definitely. But when it hit 9.30 and we both had to head off, things were still where they had been first thing.

Then as I’m driving on the Southern Motorway, I get an SMS notification on my phone. I would like to emphasise that this all happened without me taking my eyes off the road, or touching my phone in any way. (Thank you, the ghost of Steve Jobs.) I asked Siri what the message was, and he read out the following:

It was from my husband, who had apparently also been hitting refresh with all the dedication of a live-in slot-machine player in Las Vegas.

So, to recap: I refresh, refresh, refresh for the best part of an hour, and nothing.
I get in my car, drive just far enough to not be able to do anything more than get Siri to read my messages, and it happens. My very own Pitch Drop experiment.

This is how Jenna found out, sixty seconds before me:

There has been much back-and-forth of emails between CPC committee members, and more than a few tears shed. And some very lovely and confused strangers who have heard me say some vastly less coherent version of Sorry, I’ve just found out that my organisation has just managed to secure $20,000 in crowd funding and I need to tell someone about it to make it real. (My apologies to those people.) (You were very kind to me.)

I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who donated money, or promoted the campaign to others, or who just wished us well. I really don’t have words to do you all justice.

So next time someone says that poetry doesn’t matter, feel free to smile knowingly, and tell them that you know of $20,000 that very much says otherwise.