In December 2022 the Electric Belles choir held a fundraising concert to raise money for Home-Start Lambeth. An incredible £913 was raised at this event. I was lucky enough to attend the event on behalf of the charity and this was one of the most extraordinarily affirming days in my career at the charity.
The pub, the Dogstar in Brixton, was full of friends and family of the choir. When I joined the choir at the front, I was nervous. They had asked me to make a small speech to explain our charity’s work. In my head I was thinking: “don’t blather on, they want to hear the choir, not you!” As I turned to face the audience every member of the choir smiled at me. I felt held and supported. I gave the story of one family who we had supported through an exceptionally tough time. It was the story of a family who I found incredibly inspiring: a mum who had self-referred herself through to us in the pandemic. When support began this mum was suicidal. When support ended, she was healthy, we had supported her to get the help she was entitled to for her children, she had left a toxic home environment, she was back at work at the NHS and was planning a holiday abroad. When I finished telling her story the room erupted with applause. It was amazing. We then sang the 12 days of Christmas together and I was in full voice! As a not very Christmassy person I surprised myself! The power of people coming together after the years of COVID separation was intoxicating.
On my way home, I was on the bus checking the JustGiving total on my phone constantly. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The figure just kept ticking upwards and I was overwhelmed. At a time when we are all struggling to buy food and keep the heating on, people were motivated to help their community by donating to us. £913 will make such a difference to our families’ lives.
What a night! I’m so grateful to the Electric Belles for choosing us as their charity to support.
Susie – Home-Start Lambeth’s Head of Service
If you would like to raise money for Home-Start Lambeth, please contact us. We would love to hear from you.