This morning we held a BRAKE Workshop to work on planning, development and growth. It was a truly amazing morning with many of our volunteers attending and taking part. The ideas and input from all was wonderful and I am excited about what this workshop, together with future workshops and meetings will produce for BRAKE and of course our communities.

I have spoken before of the wonderful partnership that we have formed with Logan Community Branches - Bendigo Bank, not only through financial sponsorship, but their 'in-kind' support. I also spoke about the strong commitment they have to their community and this is one of the strengths that they bring to the partnership, not to mention their expertise in various fields.

An example of this is organising a meeting with Richard Ponsonby of 451 Consulting here in Brisbane. Richard has an amazing level of knowledge and experience in business planning and has been incredibly kind enough to donate all of this and his time to helping us at BRAKE. So I am most indebted to both Richard and 451 Consulting for such incredible support. Such support and assistance really cannot be overstated. I have to thank Craig Panagiris of Logan Community Branches - Bendigo Bank for introducing us. Craig also took part in this mornings workshop which was held in the office of Logan Community Branches - Bendigo Bank.

I look forward to working with Richard as he is not only incredibly skilled, he is also a very nice person as evidenced through his commitment in his own time. His facilitation of todays workshop was just fantastic.

Todays workshop has been planned for some time and a lot of work has gone into getting to today, mostly by Richard, who must possess a lions share of patience! There is a still a lot to do and our wonderful volunteers have all given an undertaking to continue to drive and participate in much of what came out of today. Their committment to our community is just so strong.

It was quite exciting to be part of such lively discussions and such positive approaches as today and it really was incredibly encouraging and empowering for all of us.

I have said it before, but it never ceases to amaze me at the wonderful people that I meet within the community through BRAKE. It is so very encouraging that such wonderful people give of their time, experience and knowledge to help their communities, in this case through BRAKE.

Many, many times the help provided to BRAKE is quite humbling and I cannot thank people enough.