This weekend, a large-scale festival took place at St. Hanshaugen, featuring concerts, second-hand markets, bike repairs and bike sales, and much more! The team behind the event are students at the University of Oslo, who recently founded the charity Mekk a Change.
A major festival
The aim of the festival was to raise money for the Red Cross’s humanitarian work in Gaza.
“As things stand, we have a board of 16 people with various responsibilities. Most are students, but not all. What we have in common is that we are all in our early 20s,” says Jarle Backer, communications responsible for Mekk a Change.
To stage a large-scale two-day festival, a total of 80 volunteers helped out.
“We sold customised bikes, repaired bikes on site, and collected 200 kilos of second-hand clothes which we sold at the festival. We also sold food, drinks and posters by Palestinian artists, and printed our own merchandise by reusing our own T-shirts.
“Not least, we held concerts featuring 12 different artists spread across the two days of the festival,” adds Backer.
Green Office as the main sponsor
In order to fund the event, the board of Mekk a Change, together with the student association U1, applied for support from the Green Office through the Green Grants scheme.
Backer is clear that the funding was absolutely essential for staging the festival.
-As our main sponsor, the Green Office provided us with a significant amount of start-up capital. The funds not only allowed us to relax, but made it possible to actually hold the festival. The funds were spent on food for volunteers, hire of sound equipment and bicycle parts. The Grants helped us create the best possible green and charitable festival,” he sums up.
“We on the board really appreciate that.”
Half a million to the Red Cross
Backer and the team are delighted with the festival and the number of people they reached.
“We’ve had 900,000 views across various social media platforms over the last 30 days, welcomed several thousand visitors to the festival, and raised NOK 480,000 for the Red Cross’s humanitarian work in Gaza.”
The Green Office is delighted to have contributed to such an engaging and successful event, and wishes the team behind Mekk a Change every success in their charitable work going forward.