By Darren Grayer.
Hampshire homelessness charity, the Society of St. James, in collaboration with one of Southampton’s most prominent music venues, The Brook, have announced the first ever Re-sound Festival on Saturday, July 25th.
The event, which will run from 2 to 6pm is aimed at helping to end homelessness. It will provide a festival-style afternoon packed with live music and inspiring speakers, all coming together to raise awareness for the good of the local community.
Southampton Ukulele Jam (pictured top) and The Recovery Allstars are among the artists providing music, with more special guests to be announced.
By bringing Southampton residents, local businesses and partner organisations together, it is hoped homelessness will become a thing of the past locally, through raising awareness about it and issues that are connected, such as substance misuse.
Another aim is to raise funds for SOCO music sessions. These provide service users with meaningful activities- like learning to play an instrument, which empowers them to address their physical, mental, and social needs through the transforming power of music, which is something I can absolutely relate to and thoroughly recommend to anyone, let alone those who are less fortunate than most.
If that wasn’t enough, the Society of St. James have already lined up their next fund raising initiative to run throughout August.
The 150,000 steps to end homelessness challenge is open to all participants across the 31 days of the month. That breaks down to roughly 5,000 steps a day and is designed to be highly accessible, with steps being accumulated through daily dog walks, family trips to the park, active commuting, or lunchtime strolls.
The challenge offers a unique element : participants will be walking in perfect tandem alongside SSJ’s own service users, who are logging their own steps during their weekly ‘Walk and Talk’ groups, run through the SSJ Academy. These sessions aim at improving health and wellbeing, confidence and self-worth. One local SSJ service user shared the impact of the Academy sessions:
“It helps me be more active, enjoy the company of others, and stops me from being isolated. The sessions give me purpose and help me achieve my goals,” said one of the service users.
The target for each participant is to try and raise £100 by gaining sponsorship from friends, neighbours or family, and by registering you will be sent an easy-to-use welcome pack designed to help you enjoy the challenge effortlessly. It will include a printable 31-day calendar that will allow you to write down and track your daily steps.
Accessible route guides with direct links to beautiful flat paths in Portsmouth and Southampton, complete with wildlife spots and great cafe recommendations for a morning coffee, and kid-friendly “stepping stone” colouring maps if you want to participate as a family. A simple fundraising guide with easy tips on how to share your online JustGiving page with loved ones, or an optional paper form if you prefer collecting traditional cash donations, with fundraising ideas designed to get your steps in and raise vital funds.
Organisers are hoping to see a great turn out and are also urging corporate teams to sign up to spark some healthy departmental rivalry.
Expressing immense pride and excitement for the campaign, Fund Raising Officer for The Society of St. James, Lucy Day, said : “I am incredibly passionate about ending homelessness in our local community, and this step challenge is such a beautiful way to get absolutely everyone involved. What makes this campaign so uniquely special is that we are all walking alongside each other, our supporters, our staff, and our service users are moving forward as one community. We are so excited for August 1st to get here and to watch Hampshire everyday routines into life-changing local support”.
Full registration details can be found at ssj.org.uk.
The Society of St. James works on a non-profit basis, and the team of passionate staff and volunteers work tirelessly throughout 365 days of the year, alongside people who are homeless, offering guidance, housing and solutions to ending their homelessness.
“We believe it is a moral human right to have somewhere to live and the right to be treated with dignity. We provide accommodation, specialist care and support and pathways to independent living”.
The scale of work carried out by the society across the local community is vast: 3,500+ people are supported every year.
500+ bed spaces provided to help remove people from the streets.
1,100+ individuals helped annually through the Re-fit and Re-set programs, helping people rebuild their lives.
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