Earlier this year in June, at team of Khushi Feet supporters went down to Worthy Farm in Somerset to attend Glastonbury Festival for a unique Khushi fundraising experience. We joined the Glasto Recycling Crew in exchange for donations to our charity. Team member Emma Smith reflects on that experience.
So now I can call myself a festival-goer. Strangely, I didn’t think I would ever go to a festival – let alone Glasto. Why would I want to sleep in a tent, survive without a shower or surrender to the grotty, soiled toilets?
Well, this is why:
I had the chance to get up at 5:30am every day to litter pick. Just typing this sentence still sounds nuts! Every day the alarm would sound, I would grumble, put on my sweaty shirt and plod on down to our litter picking plot. Why was I doing this? To be awake for the greatest number of hours, of course! No, that was not the reason – I love sleep and really missed it at Glasto. Instead, I was seeking what others often refer to as the ‘festival feel’. Strangely I found this whilst being surrounded by other voluntary litter pickers, not whilst listening to Ed Sheeran – even though he was great, and I was definitely a flustered fan girl. A sense of unity was what I was after, and this I found whilst litter picking. It didn’t matter what you looked like, or how much conversation you were able to make as everyone was there for a reason – to make a difference. This was when I realised I was there to be a part of something more than just the musical hype, I was there to experience the Recycling Team with my best friend (the wonderful Emily Cook – who runs Khushi Feet) and a brilliant team of Khushi Feet supporters. I could not have picked a more friendly, driven and admiral team to have experienced this with. The best part is, this was my first opportunity to contribute to Khushi Feet – and I can’t help thinking that for every piece of litter we picked up, it was as though we were offering a ‘Footstep to Freedom’.
Khushi Feet’s team of 15 litter pickers collectively spent 360 hours litter picking while at Glastonbury Festival and raised a total of £1,500. We’d like to thank the team for their incredible hard work and commitment to what was an exciting but exhausting fundraising experience.