We had the privilege of partnering with Festival One to run The Soul Lounge last month, alongside Kylee Black who was the visionary for The Soul Lounge. This was the first full festival to be held at the Hartford Farm in Karapiro. The beautiful location does mean some challenges for access around this site but Festival One are working on these. One of the improvements this year was a matted pathway up to The One Arena. There were many people who worked on creating this over the months leading up to festival and we even saw the Festival One Director and the Chairman out working on it! This was a huge benefit and was well utilised by many people.
The terrific team of volunteers, who supported the soulmates and ran the different areas we oversaw, were amazing to work alongside! We had two incredible speakers come and speak at The Soul Lounge. On Saturday afternoon, we had the privilege of Staci McLean sharing her wisdom, experiences and stories about neurodiversity in the church. We also had the privilege of having Julia Grace speak with us on Sunday afternoon. She shared her heart for mental health and taught us good practices to be kind to our minds.
The Soul Lounge sponsors were incredibly generous! Sensory Sam provided an incredible array of sensory items for the sensory space for people needing a quiet space or to regulate their senses. *Invacare Australia/New Zealand provided us with a hospital bed and hoist, assisting us with provided an accessible changing area. Te Whānau Pūtahi also supported us by lending us equipment. The beach wheelchairs from Beachwheels were a hit and proved very popular for a comfortable option to get up to The One Arena over bumpy ground.
We are so grateful to all the sponsors for providing and supporting The Soul Lounge.
