The community is being urged to collectively walk, run or cycle 3,600 km - the distance between the UK and Israel - to raise money for trauma support for Supernova Festival survivors.
A group from Leeds has come up with the Rebuild Challenge, where each participant will commit to raising £10 per km travelled, and all donations will be doubled by matchers. Participants need to complete their challenge on or prior to January 14.
“I was with some close friends of mine, and we really wanted to do something,” said one of the organisers, who asked not to be named.
The group has partnered with UJIA to help promote the fundraiser and streamline donations to the Healing Space, an innovative trauma treatment service started on Oct 8 to provide support for the survivors.
Abandoned and burnt cars at the site of the massacre at the Supernova Music Festival (Photo: Jack Guez/AFP)
The charity resonated with the young group of friends, who were moved by stories of what victims of the massacre had endured and were drawn to the idea of supporting the survivors who had to carry the traumatic experience with them, said the spokesperson.
“What we want to do is help people heal and be able to move on. There were 360 people murdered at that festival, but all the other people who witnessed it, we want them to — please God — try and have a happy, fruitful and productive life.”
The Healing Space, led by therapists and psychologists, relies on a nature-based integrative approach that harnesses the power of community to aid survivors in their recovery following the traumatic attack on October 7. The treatment centre offers mental health services as well as a calming space for people to engage in art, music and meditation.
The theme of community is also central to the group’s ‘Rebuild Challenge’. The initiative is “as much about showing solidarity with Israel as it is about helping bring our communities together and geting people moving and doing something positive for ourselves,” the spokesperson said.
Sign-ups for the fundraiser are open and accessible via UJIA’s website.
ujia.org/rebuildchallenge
