Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Sarah Hodgson: conceived and realised


On Friday 4 July, Sarah and friends ran a live music evening in Finsbury Park, north London. Sarah writes:

We raised an incredible £900! It's going towards the weekly social evening at the Refugee Council for unaccompanied children and teenagers recently arrived to the UK. The Social was set up six years ago by the wonderful Caroline Watson. It started with a handful of young people and has grown to 100s coming each week. There’s a whole host of fun– table football, ping pong, music, dancing, photography, drawing, summer trips. It’s a place to make friends and start a new life in the UK. Currently, the majority of children are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea. For many the Social, Caroline and the team are a lifeline without which integration into UK life would be very tough.

The idea for Social4Social was conceived and realised two years ago by Ester Gluck, a volunteer at the Social. Friday was dedicated to Ester by way of continuing her hard work and determination to alleviate young people’s suffering. I think she would have been proud of the turnout.

The Separated Child Foundation, set up in memory of Ester, is receiving £100 from the money raised. For more information on this organisation and its important work, see http://www.separatedchild.org/