Six Degrees Initiative

Everybody knows somebody…

I’ve been thinking about this idea for about 10 years, though is wasn’t until very recently that I realized exactly what it was that I was thinking about. Confused? Let me explain.

A lot of things had to happen in my life for the Six Degrees Initiative to be created, but I guess the 2 most important things are my Parents.

My beautiful mother has such a huge space in her heart for those in need, especially for children, so when I was about six years old, her and my father made the decision to become Foster Parents. This was in the very early eighties and I remember whenever I would tell someone that we were a Foster Family, I would have to explain what that meant. Then Home & Away came on TV, making it easier for people to understand. So I grew up as an only-child, never knowing if I’d have a foster-brother or foster-sister waiting at home after school for me to share my room or my toys with. Some stayed for as little as one night and some longer. One girl came into my family at two weeks old and stayed until she was over eighteen. So I’ve got around forty Foster-siblings out there who got our help when they needed it most.

For as long as I can remember, my father has been heavily involved in his local community. When he wasn’t extremely busy running his successful business, he used to be a Referree for local AFL games. He then moved on to become a Scout Leader for many years, even earning himself the position of District Leader, while also being very committed with his involvement in the local Rotary. Growing up watching him put all this effort into helping the community has certainly given me something good to aspire to.

In July 2001 I moved from a bustling, costal paradise in South-East Queensland to the bright lights and big city of Brisbane, three doors down from our then Premier, Mr Peter Beattie. I remember one of the first Movies I watched in my new share-house was Pay It Forward. I loved both the movie and the idea behind it, because I guess I’m still a romantic at heart… and I still honestly believe in the kindness of strangers. I remember thinking afterwards how great it would be if that concept became a reality.

After living in Brisbane for only a short while, I discovered how many people had their own “Powderfinger Story”. There was a girl who worked at the bakery who scored VIP tickets to a gig because she knew someone close to the band; or a mate’s husband used to jam with them before they got big; or a girl I met once at a party actually worked for them. I guess part of it was ‘name-dropping’, but I think it was mostly pride that such an influential band came from lil old Bris Vegas. Either way, it seemed everyone was connected to the band in some way.

A year or so later, my house-mate Shane Downey and I were discussing the logistics in gettting The Screaming Jets to perform at a small private show for his birthday. We were only half-serious, but it planted the idea in my head that, if we were close friends with Dave Gleeson, or knew someone who was, a private show would be within the realm of possibillity. Just like if money was no object, you could have pretty much anyone in the world come and perform for you. Even Brad Pitt playing the Triangle.

It was after this conversation that I started thinking about my Mum. She’s gone though a lot of bad stuff in her life and I really wanted to do something amazing to show her just how special she is, not only to me, but to all those children whose lives she has brightened. So I started wondering if it would be possible to arrange for her to meet one of her favourite artists from her childhood, Normie Rowe or John Farnham. A few years later she was actually lucky enough to meet Normie Rowe at one of his regional gigs, so ever since then I’ve been thinking about how I could get her to meet John Farnham.

I was at The Powerhouse one night in 2008, celebrating the life of a close friend, Chris Daniel, who had passed away the year before, and I had my own “Powderfinger Story” experience. I randomly ended up having a few drinks with ”Cogsy” (Jon Coghill), the drummer from Powderfinger, and chatting to him for about an hour. This chance meeting reinforced the fact that it truly is a small world and everybody knows somebody, just like the theory of six degrees of separation. It also made me think again about Mum meeting John Farnham, but still I made no attempt to actually make it happen.

Like a lot of people all over Queensland, I did as much as I possibly could to help during the devastating floods in Brisbane earlier this year. I sandbagged in the CBD prior to the floods and afterwards, I helped out at food-stalls, delivered drinks and helped with the cleaning in West End. I also used Facebook to attempt slowing the flow of disinformation, to keep people up to date with facts about the floods, write uplifting Statuses & quotes and basically tried to help people in any way that I could from behind a computer screen.

When life started getting back to normal here in Brisbane, I decided that I really wanted to start doing some kind of volunteer work or help out with a charity. I actually thought about volunteering when I first moved down here, but I guess I was just too busy with my new city social life and my hobbies of Music and Stand-Up Comedy. But once I’d started researching online exactly how to go about volunteering , I found the task to be quite daunting, with far too many options and organizations to choose from. So I decided to email a few places with some info about myself and my strengths, but unfortunately I never heard anything back. I often wonder how many other people out there are like me… ready and willing to help, but not really sure where to start.

So I decided that instead of only trying to accomplish something special for my mother, I would rather create something unique that will allow many special people to be rewarded for their good deeds, utilising the power of social media, the ideaologies of six degrees of separation & paying it forward, and the kindness of strangers.



Cheers,

Kristian Smith
Founder & Director