With £10,000 raised for this campaign in 2022, we were able to get the ball rolling in 2023!
We identified some fantastic charity organisations in the areas very local to site, who, using the funds raised, brought some of their clients along to join the party in 2023, on full ‘festival experiences’ – covering their entry tickets, food, drink, travel and accommodation. In 2023, these organisations were:
The Leaving Care Service
The Leaving Care Service is part of The Northamptonshire Children’s Trust. They support Care Experienced Young People, aged 16 – 25 who were children in care, for example in foster care, children’s homes, semi-independent accommodation and so forth.The Leaving Care Service is used by a lot of talented individuals, such as aspiring actors, singers and theatre technicians, who may not always get the opportunity to see professional musicians or artists, at festivals or gigs – so we were really pleased to be able to welcome them to Shambala this year.Here’s what Rachel, from the Leaving Care Service had to say, post-festival…
“Our care leavers had their eyes opened to a new side of life. One person absolutely found their tribe enjoying the Rebel Soul tent workshops and discussion and volunteered at the Extinction Rebellion stand. He is hoping to come back next year in some capacity. Another spoke to every sound desk person there and would love to work there next year, and the other 3 simply learnt a lot about life. Only one had ever camped before, none had used compost loos, none had been in crowds that big, or had all their senses hit like that, and they all found new foods they loved. We had some challenges and overcame them, and have also learnt a lot as a service.”
And here are some beautiful words from Chris, the Leaving Care Services CEO:
“I am blown away by the support you have given to enable our care leavers community to come along to such a meaningful, real and inspiring festival. This has created memories that will last a lifetime and I know they have opened a window of curiosity about how a truly caring, respectful and kind society could be.”
Harborough Ecovillage CIC
This fantastic organisation (known locally as The Village) is a non profit CIC, set up 3 years ago to work with and feed the local community, alongside promoting environmental sustainability. Their ‘Community Fridge’ has saved tonnes of food from landfill and their community café works on a pay-it-forward system. Their school outreach programme has reached more than 2,000 local school children.They brought along some of their community members who are well-known, regular visitors to ‘The Village’ – as well as some young folks from the local youth centre (‘The Cube’). Here’s what one of their service users, a local mum, had to say about her family’s experience:
“I really need to thank absolutely everyone. Whether you paid it forward 50p or £50 last year, this has been life altering for me. As a self employed, single parent to four children (3 of which are special needs), and working 2 jobs to make ends meet, there is no way I could have afforded to come to Shambala. We all had such an amazing time.
I didn’t have to cook or wash up for 4 days. That, in itself, was completely mind blowing. Add on to that all of the music and workshops etc etc and like I said, absolutely and completely life altering. I’ve cried tears of joy frequently this weekend (constantly embarrassing my poor kids!).”
Pay it Forwards Funds Raised in 2023:
We’ve totted up the totals and are very happy to confirm you generous souls raised over £12,000 for our Pay It Forward pot in 2023, meaning we’ll be able to grant full festival experiences for even more people to come along and share the love, at Shambala 2024 – find out about our 2024 charity partners here.
If you’re keen to Pay it Forward and share the Shambala love, please do make a donation, you can do so via the ‘DONATE’ button below, or whilst you’re buying your Shambala tickets, on our ticket page!
