With Andrea Comastri - CEO Hotel Etico (Inclusivity and Disabilities Charity)

Uh, um, f- can I just say, Andrea, so just for our listeners, Andrea completed a 400-kilometer run recently.

I mean, not all in one go, but 400 kilometers in stages, um, to, to, uh, r- really raise funding for the inclusivity program of the Hotel Etico.

Um, c- Andrea, just congratulations on completing that.

Thank you.

I, I'm so proud of you.

Um, and what was the amount that you, um, you raised?

Yeah, well first of all it was 411 kilometers, thank you, Paul.

So you just shortchanged me a little bit [laughs].

Uh, no, we, we managed to raise, um, $130,000, which is a decent amount of money, uh, which will allow us to continue to employ and train, uh, you know, uh, additional, uh, people with disabi- young people with disability.

In, in addition to raising, raising funds, it was really an excuse to raise awareness about what we do and, uh, taking the message on a journey across the state.

And so it was a run from, um, Victoria, which is our original home of the hotel, to Canberra, which is where we've opened a new academy.

And so over 13 days of approximately 35 kilometers average a day, some days up to 48, um, I took the message, uh, across the state and had a lot of activities, a lot of activations along the way, a lot of amazing surprising, including one of the highlights was your son, Sam, popping out behind the car, hiding towards the end of the journey and running 25 kilometers with me, and then the second day another 10.

So, um, it was, uh, an incredibous, incredible surprise and, um, and, and that really made it special because along the way you have a lot of conversations, you have a lot of meetings, you have a lot of ...

I even gave a radio interview while I was running, literally while I was running, with SBS Radio [laughs] and that was another highlight.

Did you? Amazing.

Uh, well, we, uh, you know, they, they reached out because I, I know the people there and I did ... and I scheduled the interview, and I was running between Goulburn and Marulan, and as I was running, I had my headphones and I was giving the interview, and I think that was a bit of a highlight for them as well.

So I mean, I, I, I don't sprint, so I s- I could, I could still talk, but you can hear me huffing and puffing while I, while I, while I interviewed, so it was, it was ...

Yeah.

Seriously.

And that's just a couple of episodes.

I was, I was, you know, 'cause I was obviously following it, um, pretty much every day.

We had a WhatsApp group.

But before, just, I just wanna get into it a bit, just for people out there that don't, probably have no understanding and, uh, of, um, you know, the, the Hotel Etico, uh, I dunno whether to call it a project or what.

Uh, um, f- can I just say, Andrea, so just for our listeners, Andrea completed a 400-kilometer run recently.

I mean, not all in one go, but 400 kilometers in stages, um, to, to, uh, r- really raise funding for the inclusivity program of the Hotel Etico.

Um, c- Andrea, just congratulations on completing that.

Thank you.

I, I'm so proud of you.

Um, and what was the amount that you, um, you raised?

Yeah, well first of all it was 411 kilometers, thank you, Paul.

So you just shortchanged me a little bit [laughs].

Uh, no, we, we managed to raise, um, $130,000, which is a decent amount of money, uh, which will allow us to continue to employ and train, uh, you know, uh, additional, uh, people with disabi- young people with disability.

In, in addition to raising, raising funds, it was really an excuse to raise awareness about what we do and, uh, taking the message on a journey across the state.

And so it was a run from, um, Victoria, which is our original home of the hotel, to Canberra, which is where we've opened a new academy.

And so over 13 days of approximately 35 kilometers average a day, some days up to 48, um, I took the message, uh, across the state and had a lot of activities, a lot of activations along the way, a lot of amazing surprising, including one of the highlights was your son, Sam, popping out behind the car, hiding towards the end of the journey and running 25 kilometers with me, and then the second day another 10.

So, um, it was, uh, an incredibous, incredible surprise and, um, and, and that really made it special because along the way you have a lot of conversations, you have a lot of meetings, you have a lot of ...

I even gave a radio interview while I was running, literally while I was running, with SBS Radio [laughs] and that was another highlight.

Did you? Amazing.

Uh, well, we, uh, you know, they, they reached out because I, I know the people there and I did ... and I scheduled the interview, and I was running between Goulburn and Marulan, and as I was running, I had my headphones and I was giving the interview, and I think that was a bit of a highlight for them as well.

So I mean, I, I, I don't sprint, so I s- I could, I could still talk, but you can hear me huffing and puffing while I, while I, while I interviewed, so it was, it was ...

Yeah.

Seriously.

And that's just a couple of episodes.

I was, I was, you know, 'cause I was obviously following it, um, pretty much every day.

We had a WhatsApp group.

But before, just, I just wanna get into it a bit, just for people out there that don't, probably have no understanding and, uh, of, um, you know, the, the Hotel Etico, uh, I dunno whether to call it a project or what.