Fundraising for YoungMinds: Charity Gig
Working with young people with emotional and behavioural needs bring to the forefront of one’s attention the amount of support they and their families need.
I work in a Child Psychiatry Unit in London. Our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic is a very busy unit and despite all the hard work and best efforts of all the professionals there, the work of charities, such as YoungMinds, who support these young people, families and schools on day-to-day issues is invaluable.
Unfortunately, I feel that there is limited awareness out there of these charities and hence I decided to take the initiative of promoting YoungMinds whilst also fundraising for this charity.
Being a musician, the most obvious way for me to do this was to organise a Charity Gig – little did I know all the work that this involved! I started by checking out various venues and their prices, contacting bands, hiring a sound engineer, printing fliers, promoting the evening and then came the hiccups – finding substitute bands.
However, all the hard work was worthwhile in the end and I am encouraged at the success of my first attempt. The night was a great success, and came along with a great atmosphere that was enjoyed by all present. I managed to achieve both my goals. Royal Tunbridge Wells town is definitely more cued up as to what the work of YoungMinds is and SafeKent, a local charity, also approached me and became aware of this leading national charity.
I am pleased to say that luckily I managed to cover all the costs that I had to pay upfront (in association with the setting up of the event) and thanks to the generosity of the public, a further £535 was raised towards YoungMinds.
I thank Michael Houghton, Jason Dormon, Paul Dunton and Melea Mapes for their help and support as well as all the bands who played on the night - Jon Mills, The Breretons, Rocket Lovers featuring Coco Levie, and Son of Kirk. Last but not least I thank all those who attended the event and the generosity of the general public who gave donations on our justgiving page.
I encourage others to take the leap and try to help our national charities.
Together we can pull through! Good luck!
