It was a big ask, but pay-off would save lives.
Midway through last year, Soul Hub - the Newcastle charity that started as a social enterprise cafe and grew to a support services hub for the city's most vulnerable - was offered a lease-free windfall: move into the much larger Ian and Shirley Norman Foundation building and with the extra space help countless more.
By that time, one of the city's favourite charities had grown for 10 years since it was established in 2003 to serve upwards of 2000 lunches a month. The new space - canvassing an entire floor in the Hunter Street building - was about the next 10 years, and expanding the service by as much as 60 per cent.
But, while the space was free, the fit-out to realise the dream would cost just shy of $2 million. And that was the big ask.
Local agency, Out of the Square (OOTS), attached themselves to help drum up support and the campaign proved so successful that, within a matter of months, the goal of $1.8 million was reached and Soul Hub could think about the future.
The project would include a new commercial kitchen, dining and meeting areas, shower facilities, and a dedicated allied health consulting rooms.
"We are in a position to really be intentional and multiply some of those services through people's expertise and generosity," SoulHub boss Rick Prosser told the Newcastle Herald in June last year.
At its heart, though, the mission was simple.
"I would say, really, our preferred mission would be to close our doors. We long for a future where there is no need," he said. "Yet, the needs are increasing and we are about to move into a new facility where we can meet more of those needs."
Now, with the fundraising goal surpassed, the grassroots campaign that answered the big ask has won an Australian Marketing Institute accolade adding to its earlier nod as a national finalist at the Cannes in Cairns Crocodile Awards, which OOTS boss Marty Adnum said underscored the creative excellence of the strategy.
"This win is a testament to the Newcastle community and all the individuals and businesses that come together for those in need. It's not just a win for OOTS and Soul Hub, but a win for Newcastle," the campaign's lead strategist Jennifer Young said in a statement.
"This campaign brought our community together in unprecedented ways. The engagement and generosity that poured in has been nothing short of transformative for our operations and the lives we touch daily," Mr Prosser said.
