I wish the rain went up not down
Children’s storybook fundraising for charity
In Spring 2023, KXC supported Simon with his idea to take a children’s book he had written, and use it to fundraise for Growing Hope.
Read more about Simon’s story, a great example of pioneering a creative idea of a book to support charity fundraising, something he intends to do more of in the future!
Simon’s story
The story goes back several years, when I sensed God calling me to use my writing for the benefit of others — via charities in particular.
I had to overcome the cynicism and discouragement of others, and face the challenge of finding an illustrator whose work complemented the quirky playfulness of the poem.
A ‘chance’ meeting with an Italian actress (Perla Ambrosini wasn’t an established illustrator) led to the development of the illustrations, which have definitely ‘got the magic’.
Having secured a £300 grant from the KXC ‘impact fund’, we printed 300 copies of a fund-raising children’s book for the Growing Hope charity. The book project was launched at the three churches which support Growing Hope. So far we’ve raised in excess of £3K.
I am currently wanting illustrators for two more stanzas:
“I wish that grown-ups would make sense !
Or at least try not to be quite so dense.”
and
“I wish Mum’s car would suck up fumes.
A kind of eco-car, one assumes.
Another fund-raising project involves a historical novel which I completed just prior to the pandemic. It’s an Anglo Saxon saga, set at the time of the first Viking raids. The business of recording the text as a series of podcasts became my lockdown project. I’m currently working on the music for the podcast intro and outro.
