Why we do what we do
Every year the Vale Earth Fair supports charities both locally and internationally. After all, we are “a local event with a global conscience” so this should be no surprise to anyone who has seen our posters or attended our events.
With this year’s festival coming up next weekend (24 August), we wanted to explain why we do what we do and how it really helps people.
We support three main charities which we have donated £15,000 to (£5k each) in the last year thanks to the support of the many islanders who attend our events. These charities are The Burma Campaign, The Linda Norgrove Foundation and Safer. As well as these, we have also been supporting Medical Aid for Palestinians over the last few years at Christmas (more below).
Burma Campaign UK works for human rights, democracy and development in Burma. Founded in 1991, Burma Campaign UK is one of the leading Burma campaign organisations in the world and is pro-active in highlighting the ongoing Rohingya crisis in the country, campaigning for the release of political prisoners, exposing human rights violations by the military and ensuring that life-saving aid gets to those who need it. You can find out more on their website here: https://burmacampaign.org.uk/.
The Linda Norgrove Foundation’s primary goal is to help women and children in Afghanistan, the innocent victims of the decades of political turmoil and conflict in the poorest country in the world outside Africa. The Foundation develops and supports programmes with special emphasis on education, health improvements, and incomes for women as they believe that this is most likely to create a positive lasting change for the country. More information about this charity can be found here: https://lindanorgrovefoundation.org/.
Safer is the local charity that we support which aims to empower survivors of domestic abuse by providing support, advocacy, and resources that promote safety, healing and independence. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women, 1 in 6 men and 1 in 5 children will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime and Safer aims to help with education and training in the community as well as victim support. Their dedicated team work to develop individualised plans to help those in need. You can find out more here: https://www.safer.gg/.
As well as the charities we support at the festival, we have been selling records, CDs, tapes and more in our pop-up shop over Christmas to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. So far we have managed to send them more than £6,000 thanks to everyone who has supported us. MAP does so much important work to support medical services in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Find out more about the charity here: https://www.map.org.uk/.
The Vale Earth Fair Collective think it’s so important to ensure that these vital charities are supported in the life-saving work that they do. Yes, we enjoy the festival and the events we put on, but we wanted to highlight why we do it all as volunteers. If you want to get involved or find out more, please contact us either through our social media channels or by email to info@valeearthfair.org.
With all of this in mind, please don’t forget that our main event of the year is coming up soon and tickets are still available at: https://www.valeearthfair.org/tickets. We have a huge lineup this year of local and visiting acts including Dub Pistols (UK), The Lovely Eggs (UK), Big Special (UK), Meryl Streek (IRE), Mountain Peaks (UK), Tarantulips (Jsy), The Risk, Buffalo Huddleston, Rosemary, Apothis, The Shabs (South Africa), Pillars and more across our six stages.
We can’t wait to see you there!
