Unity Day 2024: More than just a fundraiser
Saturday 8th June marked the first Kairos Unity Day, held near our Aftercare premises in Peckham.
This celebration brought together people from diverse Twelve-step Fellowships, from Kairos and beyond, for food, connection, and shared experience across recovery communities.
The day was accompanied by fundraising for the 2024 Lourdes trip, an annual event attended by many members of the Kairos community.
Here, Martina Cooley, one of the event’s organisers, shares her experience with us.
All areas of Kairos Community Trust were represented at Unity Day, with 60-70 people attending.
This ranged from a Kairos veteran with 31 years sobriety, to the most important person in the room, who was ten days clean and sober and just arrived at Linden Grove. This amounted to a total of 275 years, 6 months, and 28 days of clean and sober living!
We heard three powerful, inspirational shares of experience, strength and hope. All were from people who had come through Kairos at the beginning of their journeys, now living lives beyond their wildest expectations.
There were some emotional highlights: families brought back together, new families started because of recovery, and beautiful friendships rekindled and blossoming. There was a sense of gratitude in the air, and I overheard many conversations about how Kairos had changed people’s lives. A real day of family, friendship, love and unity.
A wonderful fundraising total of £500 was increased to £600 when a generous raffle winner re-donated a cash prize, and it hasn’t stopped there! Since the event, one former resident has donated a further £300, taking the final fundraising total for the Lourdes Fundraiser 2024 to a staggering £900. Huge thanks to everyone who donated.
Thank you too to all who organised the event, and to everyone who came along and supported it.
- We have already been asked when the next one is happening… Watch this space! It’s coming soon, and we have even more ideas.