Friendlyjordies Posts Dude’s Crowdfund-To-Live Campaign, Followers Say Naaa

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Published

March 2, 2016

Chucking up a GoFundMe page is apparently a very risky business these days. Ask Al Stewart, a Queensland native whose page copped a co-sign from Friendlyjordies earlier today.

Hahaha this dude wants cash, normally when people ask me to post crowd funding stuff I flat out say no but hahaha I’m…

Posted by Friendlyjordies on Tuesday, 1 March 2016

While that’s all well and good, and getting some shine from a bloke with as much national clout as Jordan Shanks is ~ internet gold ~, Stewart has been run ragged over the page by those who actually didn’t seem to read the thing.

Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Stewart said the page isn’t a bald-faced cash-grab like many are labelling it. Instead, it’s a just the outlet for a bloke to give Brisbane humans some decent deals to events around the place, with the view to pay off a debt incurred, and to set him up for a year of study ahead.

“I currently work for a seasonal staging company that my grandparents own. I’ve taken study on part-time and struggled with it. Now that I have my head in the game a bit more, I spoke to my grandfather and he said “no, go do it full time, take less hours at work” and that sounded pretty scary, to take less hours at work when I already can’t afford to do stuff.

Then I’m like, wait a minute – I’ll just sell all this shit! And it’ll be all good.”

That “shit”, in case you were wondering, includes a bunch of discounted passes and event tickets provided to him by local venues, many of which he’s interned for. Natch, it takes a bit more of a personal connection for a business to hand out comped passes, and those personal connections have also witnessed some pretty heavy shit in Stewart’s life.

Info on the page – which is obvious to humans who actually clicked on it – outlines his long-running struggles with social anxiety, depression, drugs and alcoholism. That’s information that goes a long way in explaining why the campaign exists at all.

“That thing with the alcohol and drugs was still geared at my friends, because I knew they sort of didn’t know this about me. Since it’s something I’ve gotten past, I might as well let everyone know it’s something I’ve dealt with, and I’m hoping to keep dealing with it.”

Stewart says the page was always intended to be focussed towards his friends and family, and the perks represent that. As he put it, “there aren’t any perks for people down south unless they want to fly me down so I can kiss them. I haven’t been offered travel in exchange for my kiss… yet.”

As for how that locally-focussed campaign ended up in the hands of FJ? Stewart’s been involved in Brisbane’s upcoming Stoogefest, which will likely feature some of Shanks’ fabled piss and vinegar. He caught wind, and the rest is (very, very recent) internet history.

Source: Facebook.

Photo: GoFundMe.