A cool project with plenty of lgbti involvement which asks people to make a video about someone important to them is in the home straight. One of the people running #UMAL2M (You Mean a Lot To Me), Sam Orchard, tells us about it. Why did you start the project? The project #UMAL2M emerged from a blog post by Philip Patston called “The Strange Death of A Stranger”, a reflection on the suicide of Australian celebrity Charlotte Dawson, and the way in which belonging – more than just merely connection – is integral in creating meaning in our lives. We (DPSN - www.DPSN.net.nz) participated in the 100 days project last year - where we created 100 faces of diversity, we got 100 people to submit photos of themselves, and tell us one thing that made them unique. We really loved the idea of doing something similar, where we got a range of diverse people to create something, so we thought - what if we asked people to share a few thoughts about some-one who means a lot to them? How wide is the range of videos? It's been such an amazing and sometimes surprising series of videos! The only two rules we gave people were that they had to talk about someone who was alive, because we view this as a suicide prevention inspired project, and that someone had to know who they were - so no celebrities or icons, unless people personally knew them. We were SUPER lucky to have Hilary Barry and Mike McRoberts do one about each other towards the beginning, and we've had SO many different sorts of relationships since then - brother, sisters, parents, colleagues, pets, you name it! How heartened are you by the videos which have been made? It's been a really moving and inspiring project to be part of, we've had a couple of people write songs for others, we've had tears, we've had laughter - there's a really incredible mix. What are you looking for from people thinking of making one? We've made a how-to video, so if people want to shoot their own, they can All people have to do is think about someone who means a lot to them who is alive, and knows who they are - then grab their phone or a camera, and film themselves talking about that person (it can be as short or as long as you like! The shortest one we've had was eight seconds!) and then email it or dropbox it to me at umal2m@diversitynz.com. Easy! We've got less than two weeks left of the project so we're on the home stretch and really need a few more to get us over the line! Check out all the videos here! GayNZ.com staff - 10th October 2014