Community behind Carols support

The story behind how and why Harcourts Ballarat jumped in to help save the Ballarat Carols by Candlelight

NINETY-seconds was all it took for the management team at Harcourts Ballarat to throw their weight behind a push to revive the Ballarat Carols by Candlelight.

That was how long it was between when organiser Matt Hustwaite reached out to Director Jason Gigliotti seeking support and when the real estate agency said they were coming on board.

“Matt sent the email, I’ve looked at it and I knew the rest of the boys had, and I yelled out to Peter Ludbrook have seen this? And then I picked up the phone, spoke to Matt and said ‘mate, what do you need?’,” Mr Gigliotti said. “As quick as you can say ‘ho, ho, ho’ we were in.”

At the heart of why Harcourts Ballarat were so quick to become involved was the underlying issue of if the Carols weren’t going to go ahead, then the city’s biggest and longest running Christmas charity drive, the 3BA Christmas Appeal, was going to suffer.

“It was the numbers that Matt supplied us that said it was going to affect what was last year 4500 families, and organisations like St Vinnies and Anglicare,” Mr Gigliotti said.

“They are now saying this year it could be 10 to 15 per cent more needed. So we’re talking 5000 families. I don’t know how anyone who could step in to help could say no.”

It would have been easy for Harcourts Ballarat just to donate money to the 3BA Christmas Appeal.

However, by adding the support of a well-known and trusted national brand like Harcourts, it gave the push to save the much-loved event strength.

The real estate agency’s involvement will not end with just being the presenting partner.

“We’re going to be out there, doing barbeques at events, rising money to go towards the cause,” Mr Gigliotti said. “We’re also looking at other ways we can inject more funds into it through fundraising.”

That drive to do more for the community is drawn from the firm’s four values: People first, doing the right thing, being courageous and fun and laughter.

“We truly believe in supporting the community and keeping this event alive is being true to those core values,” Mr Gigliotti said.

“We are putting the people of Ballarat first, we are doing the right thing, and fun a laughter, let’s face it, it’s going to be a fabulous night and a terrific show.”

The effort to get behind the Ballarat Carols by Candlelight follows on from many other locally focused and community driven philanthropic efforts by the firm and its staff.

Harcourts Ballarat are supporting the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes initiative, have fundraised for White Ribbon and a portion of all sales commissions the firm makes goes towards the Harcourts Foundation.

That’s in addition to the many sporting clubs and community organisations the agency directly donates to every year, there’s also recently launched Big Blue Barbecue trailer which enables schools and other groups to raise much needed money for themselves.

“We want to be part of the community and we feel it is our responsibility to look for meaningful ways to help those around us and develop the town we’re blessed with living in,” Mr Gigliotti said.