Combining Altruism and Business

Altruism. noun
the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others.

I love this word, and the meaning of it in my life and business. I was introduced to altruism in my early 20’s when I participated in a seminar and discovered the joy of unconditional giving. The kind of giving that can be anonymous and without recognition. My first foray was driving across the harbour bridge with a friend and we would pay the toll for the vehicle behind us. The person at the toll bridge, never knew what to say, and usually would laugh. Because it was fast moving traffic we just drove away and would have no idea of the outcome or who the recipient was. We just left it up to the universe.  It may sound odd but it was thrilling. There was joy in the randomness of it. it was only a little gesture but we hoped it made someone’s day and as skint 20 years olds it was something we could afford.

The entrepreneurial landscape is changing, more and more people are taking on values of altruism and business,  working out how they can give back to their communities or make a difference with their product or service. Check out: whogivesacrap.org and thewaterproject.org
I’m proud to say that Women with Altitude definitely embrace these qualities in our values and so do many of our members.  Recently at Altitude Networking in Penrith, we learnt from Frances Davidson of Pulse First Aid, the importance of defibrillators for saving lives in heart attack incidents. This struck a huge chord with me as some of you will recall, my hubby Michael had a cardiac arrest at the City2Surf in 2006 and the fact that a paramedic was 50 metres up the road and was able to zap him with the debrillator, saved his life and frankly all of our lives. 2 months following his arrest, we discovered that the paramedic Steve who saved Michael’s life was trying to raise money for a defib machine for Penrith St John’s Ambulance division. We asked everyone to give $20 each and presto within a few days we had $4000 for a machine. It was one of the most gratifying moments ever – handing that machine over to Steve and his cadets.

Well we are putting the call out again, for the month of Sept /October we are asking everyone to donate at AN groups to raise money for a defibrillator at the new Priddis Foundation ASD early intervention centre in the heart of Penrith. They have come down in price thankfully so I’m sure we can do this.

I hope you will come along, connect laugh, learn something and donate

Until next week
Huge hugs
Andy x