In 4 days of salvage at Beacons and Leeds Festival, more than 700 tents and thousands of pieces of camping equipment have been salvaged by Everything Is Possible and our ‘’Green Message’’ participants.
This year, Everything Is Possible changed its method of distribution and asked organisations interested in getting camping equipment to send their ‘wish list’ of materials for volunteers to salvage. They just had to come and pick up their order when it was ready for them.
In total, 45 charities/not-for-profit organisations benefited from our Green Action. They came from all around Yorkshire and even Lancashire (Skipton, Bradford, Halifax, Keighley, Harrogate, Leeds, Ilkley, Manchester, York, Southport, Huddersfield and many other cities) to get their camping equipment.
Here is the feedback from these organisations about our Green Action and how this equipment will help them to develop their activities:
“Thank you for all of your support the salvage operation which has been amazing.. ‘Everything is possible’ – the project whose volunteers did the work of collecting all the sleeping bags and some mats. I can only say a huge thank you to them and appreciate all the support they are giving us. Without volunteers at Refugee Council including volunteers at ‘Everything is possible’ and Raphael, likely it would not have been possible to support our clients in this way. Now we have enough sleeping bags for the winter months and the coming months for the most vulnerable, destitute refugees and people seeking asylum. Thank you again to everyone for their support, most appreciated.” – Khami Miraf, Refugee Council (Leeds).
“The Young People and Leaders of Skelmanthorpe Scout Group are delighted with the camping equipment received and would like to thank you for your time. The equipment is a great help; it will allow the group to undertake a number of camping activities.” – Mark Elliot, Skelmanthorpe Scout Group (Huddersfield).
“THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU” – Alex, SafeT (Bradford).
“EIP is a fantastic organisation which uses innovative ideas to deal with some not so positive aspects of modern life and make them in to a positive. Our organisation received over 500 punds worth of camping equipment in return for 25 pounds, this makes camping holidays possible for our members who otherwise would go without. The staff at EIP were friendly and professional. A credit to any organisation which leaves people wanting to find out more” – SafeT (Bradford).
“All of the staff and young people at SASH would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers and to the organisation as a whole for the very kind donation of camping equipment that we are going to use to take our young people away on a camping trip into the countryside. Without this donation the event would not have been possible. Once again many thanks.” – Gary Hogg, SASH (York)
“Project Challenge is a charity that works with young vulnerable people aged 16 – 19. We are using the camping equipment to run some short 1 night residential focusing on building self esteem and confidence, using bushcraft and skills to encourage independence and self sustainability. We have also been able to use some of the chairs and a blow up bed to temporarily furnish a young person in a flat, where he had nothing! This will give him some time to save and buy them second hand which is still extremely expensive when you are living on Income Support. Many many thanks.” – Lorna Butterick, Project Challenge (Halifax)
“Thanks to the wonderful efforts of your team, we can now make possible our very first camping trip for our young people and introduce the great outdoors to them. The lack of camping gear is no longer a barrier. Thank you very much for everything.” – Fozia Latif, Shantona Women’s Centre (Leeds).
“Thank you very much for everything, we can now make a camping trip a reality for our young people and introduce the great outdoors to them. An extra special thank you to Bob, who brought everything out to us when the site was on lockdown.” – Fozia Latif, Shantona Womens Centre (Leeds)
“Now we have spare camping equipment for our volunteers to borrow, we hope lack of money will no longer be a barrier to people in getting involved with The Ladybird Project. Thank you so much for the brilliant work you do in turning people’s festival rubbish into other people’s valuable assets!” – Tamsin Macdonald, Ladybird Project (Leeds).
“We have three 4 man tents which will supplement our scout camping equipment. At present we have three very old canvas patrol tents that were in desperate need of replacement. You and your team have allowed us to replace these with considerably less capital than we would normally have to find from our dwindling and precious resources these days. The young people using them in future will also be as – if not – more grateful for more modern and up to date equipment. Thanks again.” – john Seymour, Crossroads Scouts Keighley West Yorkshire (Accrington Lancs).
“A HUGE thank you to the Everything Is Possible team for the camping gear from Beacons Festival. The equipment donated to our new Guide unit is massively appreciated and will save us Monday on equipment. Some items, including groundsheets, sleeping mats and sleeping bags, will enable Brownies and Guides who could not otherwise join us at camp to attend, which is excellent. Having not had such donations before, I was not sure quite what state of cleanliness the items might have been, but I have to say I was totally impressed by the way the items were selected, prepared and packed for us – it really made the unpacking and any cleaning needed very easy. I honestly can’t thank you enough, and the team on the day were so smiley and helpful…even when I was lost in the field and couldn’t find them on collection day!” – Harriet Wibberley, 1st Gisburn Guide and Brownie units (Barnoldswick).
“I would like to thank you all for the camping equipment which I collected on behalf of Horton Park Primary school in Bradford. The school is situated in inner city Bradford in a deprived area where the children’s lives are at best difficult. They would never have the opportunity to experience camping or the really fun activities associated with it without all the gear you have so kindley collected for them. I wish you would be able to see their faces because I know all your aches and pains would be forgotten once you see them. Again may i take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to you all and be happy in the fact that your actions will positively affect so many deserving children.” – Mark Parry, Outdoor education and extended learning coordinator at Horton Park Primary School (Bradford)
”Thank you Everything Is Possible for our new camping equipment for Oxenhope Youth Club – we’re looking forward to our first camping trip, made possible by your fantastic project! Yey!!” – Penny Cusdin, Oxenhope Youth Club (Keighley).
“I would like to say a huge thank you to your team for the camping gear that we have acquired through your charity. It will be extremely useful as we do like to take our young people on outward bound/camping trips and usually have to beg,steal or borrow equipment ! It will also be of a big help for when we do our ‘Sleep Easy’ annually -usually in the winter. The staff on site were very helpful and friendly and the volunteers must have put some hard work in for the clearing up sessions – well done to them.” – Julie Botham, YMCA (Skipton).
“Hello, I am impressed by the amount of good quality equipment that your team has been able to supply us. I would like to say a massive ‘thank you’ again to all involved. I have put a few words together that you can use if you want: ‘Everything is Possible have just provided St Matthews scouts with an abundance of good quality camping equipment from 6 pop up tens to a bucket full of spare pegs and all manner of useful equipment in between. We will be able to cater for more young people and offer them a fuller and more comfortable camping experience. A huge thank you to all involved.’ Really impressed and I will be telling others for next year when our district meets in two weeks time. This equipment can really make a difference to scout troups who are just starting or expanding.” – Paul Slade, St Matthews Scouts (Halifax)
“ I would like to say a huge massive thank you for the kind, generous and very supportive team at Everything is Possible, their support will help many people from disadvantaged communities enjoy the local countries and engage is learning activities that will benefit them in many ways.” – Ash Alom, Inspyre youth (Keighley).
This project was supported by the British Council, the European Commission, Beacons Festival and Festival Republic.
