Dry July

Tell us your Dry stories

2009-06-14T09:43:00.001+10:00

Hey,

So are you planning to go Dry? Here’s to your brave effort!

Maybe you went Dry in ’08 too? Whatever your reason, we’re keen to hear what spurred you on to take part. Was it as a thank you to your liver and kidneys for all their hard work over the years? Or perhaps to show solidarity for a loved one that challenges cancer every day?

If you’ve got a story to share about why you’d put yourself through a Dry July then please let us know; we’d love to hear it. Simply send a note to the team at pr@dryjuly.com and tell us what drove you to (not) drink!

Cheers,
The Dry July Team.

Stop Drinking!

2009-04-01T09:18:00.002+11:00

No, it’s not an April Fool’s joke: stop drinking - for a whole month. See what a difference it makes to your health and fitness, your wallet – your sex life! That’s the challenge being set down by the boys behind Dry July.

Phil, Brett and Kenny raised more than a quarter of a million dollars when they convinced the Australian public to take up the challenge last year. The money raised went towards adult cancer patients at Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation, Dreams2Live4 Charity and was used to purchase four new treatment beds for the oncology ward, two new LCD televisions as well as a brand new state-of-the-art kitchen, waiting room and fully landscaped garden.

This year, Dry July is going national. Today five hospitals around the country are being announced as additional beneficiaries of the sponsorship raised as part of Dry July 2009. The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Adelaide’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Brisbane’s Mater Adult Hospital and the Canberra Hospital. Sydney’s Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation and Dreams2Live4 will continue to be the NSW beneficiaries. These public hospitals and foundations will be the happy recipients of any monies raised in their state during the annual abstinence month. Although it may be April Fool’s Day, for them the much-needed funds are anything but a laughing matter.

"In South Australia - with our rainfall - we will be hoping for anything but a Dry July on the outside, but staying dry on the inside is a great way to help the cancer patients at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital," Executive Director Maurice Henderson says.

"Whilst we like a good drop, I believe that South Australians will really get behind Dry July to help our cancer sufferers."

Dry July co-founder Phil Grove says "there’s a real need for funds to be made available to cancer wards, units and patients across Australia. We are aiming to encourage as many participants as possible to get on the wagon and raise sponsorship to benefit the vital cancer departments of these fantastic hospitals."

Last year’s sole recipient say the overhaul of their department has made a massive difference to the day-to-day lives of their patients.

"The sponsorship of the Dry July campaign has allowed the Prince of Wales Radiation Oncology Department to change its persona from being an old clinical area to one where patients feel much more comfortable and relaxed while waiting for their treatment," Nurse Unit Manager Carolyn Hook says.

"Working with Dry July has been a pleasure and rewarding experience."

Joining the Dry July movement is simple - just head to www.dryjuly.com from the 1st June 2009 to register and start collecting some sponsors.

Dryjuly.mobi - Keep up to date with news from Dry July on-the-go

2008-11-07T15:45:00.002+11:00

Picture the scene if you will… You are sat in a café, sipping your latte and typing a desperately boring report that needs to be on the bosses desk by Monday… Suddenly you think ‘I wonder what is going on with Dry July these days, I will just check out their website’ (you haven’t ever thought that??? Shame on you!)… but oh no! no wireless connection… what a to do!

Well, we have thought of everything here to make sure you never miss a thing! Now you can keep up with all the happenings in the Dry July camp wherever you are by using our new mobile based Dry July website!

Simply type http://dryjuly.mobi into your mobile phone’s browser and hey presto!

Any news we post on our blog will automatically be shown on our mobile site so you can keep up with the latest happenings wherever you are!

We will be launching a whole set of cool and whiz-bang features on our mobile site as Dry July 2009 approaches…

So sit back, enjoy your latte and check out dryjuly.mobi on your mobile phone.

Cheers,
The Dry July Team.

Your donations, making a difference

2008-10-27T20:45:00.001+11:00

Hey all,

We started Dry July to make a difference. We wanted to raise funds that would directly benefit the lives of people living with cancer through The Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation, Dreams2Live4 charity.

3 months on from the inaugural Dry July and we are proud to start showing where the amazing amount of funds are beginning to be distributed.

Now known as the ‘Garden of Dreams’, the garden area of the Oncology ward has been completely re-vitalised with new garden furniture and plants.

A kitchenette area has been installed along with fantastic new seating in the Oncology waiting room. The TV without sound has been replaced by a 50” plasma (and yes the sound is working on this puppy).

2 special beds have been purchased and are soon to arrive.

We are continuing to work with cancer patients to make and fulfil their dreams. We will be making regular updates to the site displaying improvements made and dreams fulfilled, so please check back regularly.

In the meantime, check out the photos here.

Cheers,
The Dry July Team

Dry July Update Oct 2008 - Presentation Evening and Cheque Handover

2008-10-21T17:00:00.000+11:00

Hi all,

Long time, no speak!

The presentation evening was a great success with an impressive turn out of DJs, friends, hospital staff and committee members.

As it’s not July, the drinks were flowing in celebration of raising a grand total of $257,283. We had a ‘big cheque’ printed and trophies to hand over to the highest fundraisers of Dry July 2008.

The night started well with the rain holding off, so all in attendance could enjoy the newly constructed garden area. It was a chance for all involved to see where the fantastic amount of funds raised were being spent.

Already making a difference with the new kitchen area fitted, new furniture delivered in the Oncology waiting area and great big flat screen TV mounted on the wall, we proceeded inside for the speeches to begin.

It was a chance for the guys behind Dry July to give a brief talk about how Dry July came to be and to thank all those involved in making what was an idea born in the pub, become a National fundraising event with aspirations to grow bigger and bigger year on year.

Adam Spencer gladly accepted his Trophy for highest fundraiser and helped us hand over the ‘big cheque’ to Lulu at The Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.

There was still plenty of time after the speeches had finished to have a few more drinks and enjoy the fantastic nibbles that were going around on the night.

Huge thank you to everyone that turned up! We all really appreciate everyone’s encouragement and input for Dry July and with this much support Dry July 2009 is set to be a huge success for our beneficiaries.

We’ve put some photos of the night on the website so please check them out.

We’ll also be updating the site regularly with photos as to the developments being made at the hospital through the funds raised.

Cheers!
The Dry July Team.

The final straight, Donation cut off dates and the Dry July Hall of Fame...

2008-07-22T17:06:00.006+10:00

g'day all,

It has been a quiet couple of weeks for the Dry July Team as we hide ourselves away and try to resist the temptation of the dreaded booze monster.

Only 10 more days to go!!!

We thought you might like to know a few housekeeping things to bear in mind as we near the end of July.

Online donations will continue until the 15th August so ensure you rally your troops to give their donations before this date.

If you have been collecting cash donations, please ensure you send a cheque for the total amount along with your Dry July Cash Sponorship form before the end of August 2008 to the following address:

The Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation Ltd,
Locked Bag 3,
Maroubra NSW 2035

If you are one of the amazing people who have managed to get into the Top 10 DJ list, the person with the highest donation total at 5pm on Friday 1st August, 2008 will claim the Number 1 DJ spot of 2008 and be entered into the Dry July Hall Of Fame!

Keep up the good work everybody and we hope you are all reaping the benefits of staying Dry this July!

Good luck and thank you for your fundraising achievements!

Cheers,
The Dry July Team.

What a week!!

2008-07-04T15:37:00.000+10:00

What a week!!! …Where do we start??…how about Tuesday :)

First and foremost … WOW, Thank you!!

What started as an idea amongst mates to lay off the booze and raise some money for a great cause close to our hearts has gained such momentum and support that nearly 1000 individuals are now taking on the challenge and to date we have raised over $85,000!!

Thanks to the support and involvement of Adam Spencer at ABC radio, hearing Dry July being talked about on Triple J radio now means that Dry July has been taken to a whole new level! Not to mention the media interest Dry July has achieved through web forums, news websites, local and national papers, radio and magazines. Thank you again to all getting involved, signing-up, donating and supporting Dry July and the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation, Dreams2Live4 Charity.

Well this is the first official ‘Dry’ weekend of July! For those who have Golden Tickets… we envy you! …for those who don’t… we admire you! For us, the enormity of this challenge is sinking in so good luck to all and remember, like The Doctor from Triple J says…No bender till Splendour :)

Cheers,
The Dry July Team

Come one, come all!

2008-06-27T14:26:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to Cheri Lutz for being the 300th person to sign up for Dry July! Welcome onboard!

The countdown is on...

On your marks...

Get set...

...wait for it

The Dry July Team

Top Up Up Up!!!

2008-06-20T15:28:00.000+10:00

The Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation are overwhelmed with everyone’s generosity and enthusiasm to support friends and family taking on ‘Dry July’.

Initial expectations have already been far exceeded. With this in mind and knowing every donation is directly benefiting the lives of people living with cancer we’ve topped up the Schooner goal to $40,000!

Cheers,
The Dry July Team

100 DJs!!

2008-06-16T14:09:00.001+10:00

It truly is fantastic to see such support behind Dry July. We have just had our 100th DJ sign-up and we couldn’t let such a monumental moment slip past without a mention.

Welcome Jane Sharkey and thank you for being the 100th person to sign-up for Dry July!

All the best with you Dry July challenge!

The Dry July Team

New Feature: Invite people to sponsor you...

2008-06-16T14:08:00.000+10:00

Here at Dry July we try to make your lives as easy as possible and we know that writing emails to hundreds of people to get sponsorship is time consuming and a bit of a drag so we have added a new feature to your Dry July profile page which allows you to email all your friends/collegues at once... You can send to your Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo contacts, upload a list of email addresses exported from your own email program (i.e. Outlook) or you can even just type in the email addresses if you so wish.

We hope this makes life a little easier for you,if you have any problems with this feature, drop us an email at team@dryjuly.org

Cheers,

The Dry July Team.

Aiming ever higher!

2008-06-11T10:31:00.000+10:00

With the Dry July Schooner close to overflowing in such a short space of time, we didn’t want to spill a drop so have raised the total donation goal to $20,000

Well done all!! Keep those donations flowing in.

The Dry July Team.

Raising the bar...

2008-06-03T19:38:00.000+10:00

...wow! is all we can say to the response Dry July has got in its first week out in the wild. We are really happy people are jumping on the wagon and taking on the challenge of going Dry this July.

We are already halfway to our original goal (well done all!!) so, with that in mind, we have decided to up the anty and raise the donation goal! We are going to increase it from $5,000 to $10,000...

So, come on guys, lets get as many of our friends, family and collegues on board to either take part or donate to a great cause.

Cheers,

The Dry July Team.

Tinkering under the hood...

2008-06-03T15:38:00.001+10:00

Hi All,

You may have noticed some weird goings on with the site on Tuesday (3rd June). We have been upgrading our services to ensure the stability of the site and unfortunately this required a little down time... Thanks to you all for your patience while this upgrade happens and we will be back to normal very soon...

Thanks,
The Dry July Team.

Dry July is live!

2008-05-27T20:59:00.000+10:00

On Monday 26th May 2008, at about 10pm or so, the Dry July website broke out of its cocoon and into the real world.

With a new skin and a bubbly attitude, the website is now happily registering Dry Julyers and raising more and more interest – the website has had 500 hits in the last two days alone!

Thanks to all of you who have already taken the plunge and signed-up for Dry July. At the time of writing, and at less than one day old, that’s nearly 40 so far with about $500 already raised!

This bodes really well for the future and we hope to see the Dry July glass filling up nicely.

Thanks again!
The Dry July Team.

The count down to 1st July is well and truly on!!!

2008-05-06T22:28:00.000+10:00

Thank you to all registering on the Dry July website and a special thanks to all those forwarding the site on to all their friends/family. It is seriously much appreciated as it is through such support and exposure that Dry July will reach it's full potential for such a great cause.

We are busy designing/building the main website along with working extensively on the PR side of things to ensure Dry July raises as much as possible for the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation.

The website continues to receive fantastic interest. http://www.dryjuly.org has received 762 hits to the site with 499 being unique visitors and 93 people registering their interest.

The facebook group continues to grow .... currently 120 people from both near and far! Fantastic support everybody as it is wiith such momentum of growth that we will all be able to make such a positive difference to the lives of those living wth cancer.

Thanks again to all and as the count down is on we can't wait to let you know about what's up and coming for Dry July!

Phil from Dry July on Adam Spencer's Breakfast Show on Sydney's 702 AM

2008-04-19T13:51:00.000+10:00

Hey,

Dry July had it's first real PR this morning with Phil chatting to Adam Spencer on Sydney's 702 AM breakfast show. Check out the MP3 at: http://www.dryjuly.org/audio/702am.mp3

Cheers, Dry July Team

Dry July is getting a lot of Attention!

2008-04-16T13:49:00.000+10:00

Hi everybody!

Quick update for you all... Dry July is continuing to receive some great interest. We've now had 445 hits to the site. 265 of those being individual visitors. We've also had 52 people register on dryjuly.org with 53 people referring to friends.

The Dry July FaceBook group is growing very nicely. We've even had our first Penguin sign up! I've partied with Jervis Bay Petie and I've got a feeling he's going to be purchasing/donating a few Golden Tickets ;)

We've got 2000 Dry July drinks coasters arriving in the next couple of days (same design as the image above). So we're going to be out 'n' about around Sydney distributing them. Really hoping they make a great impact!!

There's some really exciting other things happening which we can't wait to tell you about, so please keep checking back to the group for updates and announcements.

Thanks again everybody for your support and encouragement!

Dry July Team

Update

2008-04-10T13:29:00.000+10:00

Hey All...

It has now been two weeks since the Dry July website went live and we have had over 220 unique visitors visit us and 30 people register their interest!! We now have 29 members on the Facebook group and we are number 1 in the Google search results!!!

So come on guys, lets ramp it up and get the word out to everyone... lets try and get the Facebook group up to 50 and get as many people to http://www.dryjuly.org as possible!!

We really appreciate your efforts!

Dry July Team.