The fundraising event for HopeHIV organised by Substance youth group was a great success. On Saturday 24th July, more than 60 people came to the event which had taken weeks of planning.

The evening began with a fantastic performance from the Irish dancers (who use our church hall) followed by a short talk on HIV and Aids. We then showed our ‘Video of Compassion’ which we created during Quest, our Thursday night house group (you can see it below). We organised a charity auction where people bid money for services such as dog walking, car cleaning and gardening and items such as a fair-trade hamper, giant African land snails, cakes, Colin Firth’s autograph and much more! The auction raised over £100 which includes the impressive £50 bid to get Samuele’s hair cut! We also organised a quiz which everyone took part in.

We combined our £10 notes we were given and used the money to buy baked potatoes with fillings, various desserts and drinks which we prepared and served.

We all had so much fun and are very glad that we decided to keep the money we were given from HopeHIV to raise even more money. As a result of our hard work and determination, and everyone’s kind donations, we managed to raise a fantastic £578.92. This means we turned each £10 into more than £100! We are all extremely proud of our achievement and would like to thanks everyone who came for their support, their donations, and their help clearing up afterwards!