Community Christmas 2020 ONLINE!

The week of 14^th December was an incredibly busy and festive week for FYA! 20 Youth Event Managers, supported by 72 fantastic youth action and community volunteers found a way to impact over 1000 people and connect at a time of year that can be isolating ordinarily, let alone in the year of social distancing and lockdowns. The week started with face to face volunteering delivering Christmas to Your Door across three days. The week then culminated in an online event Community Christmas Online!

COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS EVENT ONLINE was created and designed by 10 youth event managers as part of a 12 week project, meeting online throughout their project. This group were very creative and decided to design something that can bring a sense of community online and reach people who may be isolated. The event was broadcast from New Diorama Theatre, where 5 youth event managers led this event in person on camera and 5 youth event managers led the event remotely. They were joined by 5 young people online as workshop leaders and 11 performers. The group faced additional challenges as some of them were initially going to be face to face but were required to isolate so could only be present remotely, the key member of FYA staff was required to isolate who had worked with them throughout the project and then on event day, despite all best efforts, there were some technical difficulties due to internet and a storm.

However, they were incredibly resilient and worked well as a team to come up with possible alternatives if required, provided incredible peer support as a team and managed to pull of the event. The event included; games and competitions such as bingo and a quiz, creative workshops led by young people such as art and craft, cupcake decorating, Winter Wellbeing and Goal setting for 2021! There were also fantastic pre-recorded performances by the WHSG’s gospel choir, Emma Ilunga, Gloria Elubode, Destiny Agunsoye, Yannella Restrepo and Kacey Philpot from Lauderdale House.

The Digital Christmas brought joy and a smile to different households, reaching 73 people attending this Christmas Event Live

Our attendees stated that the most satisfying thing about this event was:

“Good – some entertainment on a dull lockdown day!”

“Feeling less alone and isolated, being left to own devices”

“Seeing the enthusiasm and effort that all the presenters and performers put into making a great event”

‘’The sessions were super fun and creative, and with it being a virtual event, it meant I was able to join from abroad and it was lovely to see all the participants were interacting in the chat! Everyone did a fantastic job, well done and thank you!”

“The young people who hosted, performed and ran activities did amazing and they should all be really proud!”

“It was a lovely gesture of caring and sharing”

“As it was online, it is very good, I really appreciate your hard work”

You can see a films below including incredible performances and some photos from how we made the event happen!

We could not have done this event without the support of:

Lottery Community Fund, Camden Council Community Festival Grant, Regents Place Community Fund, Camden Giving HS2 Fund and a big thank you to Sharpe Pritchard for their bake off fundraiser! We would also like to thank New Diorama for providing us with venue and a staff member to support us on the day – and of course a massive thank you to the youth action volunteers and to our guests, who made the event special even when we had technical challenges!

*all events were held within government guidelines at the time of occurrence.