Butterfly of Hope Fundraising Concert

Name: Butterfly of Hope Fundraising Concert
Start: 2026-05-23T09:30:00+10:00
End: 2026-05-23T13:00:00+10:00
Location: St Andrew's Uniting Church, 299 Ann St Brisbane

Schedule

Sat May 23 2026 at 09:30 am to 01:00 pm

UTC+10:00

Location

St Andrew's Uniting Church, 299 Ann St Brisbane | Brisbane, QL

This concert is to raise funds for Butterfly of Hope. It will be held on 23rd May 2026 at 7.00 PM (EST), finishing at 10.30 PM (EST) at St Andrew's Uniting Church, 299 Ann St, Brisbane. It's the corner of Ann St and Creek St right in the CBD and diagonally across from Central Station. If you prefer, the concert will be live-streamed so that you have the choice of watching from home from anywhere in Australia or even the world.
We will have a couple of bands playing and there will be a series of solo gigs. I will update this description with the name of the bands and any solo artists once they become available. There will also be some cultural music from Afghanistan and Hazaragi dancers.
So far, we have two duos that have confirmed their intention to play: the first is called Mundy-Turner and the second Jumping Fences. Mundy-Turner consists of Cath Mundy and Jay Turner while Jumping fences consists of Sue Monk and Lachlan Hurse. Both these duos have a commitment to social justice. You can find out more information about Mundy-Turner at https://mundyturner.com/ and Jumping Fences at https://www.jumpingfences.com.au/.
The Butterfly of Hope Humanitarian Organisation is dedicated to helping displaced people who are being forced to return to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries.
During the first nine months of 2025, over 2.5 million Afghans have been forced to return to Afghanistan. These people often don’t have the basics such as food, clothing and shelter. Of particular concern are the women and children, with thousands of those returned being unaccompanied minors. They are prone to radicalisation by the Taliban and often don’t receive adequate education. The girls are often forced into marriage and many become victims of human trafficking. This leads to an ongoing cycle of poverty and radicalisation, which we will break through meeting their basic needs and education.”
Our team in Afghanistan will do a presentation on Butterfly of Hope and how we will work. A couple of displaced people will share their personal stories and Australians who previously lived in Afghanistan will share what it is like and information about Afghan culture. Please note, we already have a team on the ground providing aid.
This is a fundraiser. However, I do want to keep the concert affordable so as many people can come as possible and spread the word about Butterfly of Hope. That is how we make more money.
Cost for in person tickets: $30 for a single, $20 for children, with prices capped at $80 for a family of four. Students, pensioners and unemployed over 18 are also $20.00.
Online tickets: $20 single, $10 for a child, with a family of four or more $55.00. Once again concessions and students over eighteen are the same prices as a child ($10).
Initially, the funds from this concert will go directly to helping people in Afghanistan.
We aim to raise at least $25 000 from the concert and associated activities. All funds will go to setting up the charity and legal compliance required by law with the remainder once basic costs are paid going to provide food, clothing, and shelter. We will also help with education and basic medical supplies for the displaced people. Many of these people are in camps, so this is where the money will be used, to purchase supplies locally and distribute them via our volunteer teams on the ground.
We will register the organisation as a not-for-profit in Australia and apply for tax deductibility with the Australian Taxation Office. We are doing everything we need to do, including setting up the company, and this will be completed in the next 4-6 weeks.
By the way, my name is Christopher Schmidt. I will be running the Australian end of the operations. We have an Afghan co-ordinator running that side of the operations but we don't want to mention his name publicly. Jessie Wells, from Brisbane is another advisor and director. We have other directors too.
Imagine being forced to leave everything behind — your home, your job, your school — and being dropped at a border with nothing but the clothes on your back. Many of the ethnic Afghans deported back are third and fourth generation displaced people and have not set foot inside Afghanistan before. In some cases, their grandparents or great-grandparents are the ones who fled.
This is the reality for Afghan families who have returned from Iran and Pakistan as well as other neighbouring countries this year. While some returned voluntarily, it was not because they felt safe to do so but because they were afraid of deportation and mistreatment by the police. In June 2025 alone, nearly 290,000 people were deported to Afghanistan or returned because of their fears. In just one day on the 1st of July 2025, 44,000 people were forcibly deported. Many are highly educated, once had good jobs and would be a credit to any country that would provide them a safe place.
These people are coming to Afghanistan often with nothing. Mothers don’t have medicine for the children or food. They only have the clothes on their back. In fact, there are many unaccompanied children. In June 2025 alone, Iran deported 5000 unaccompanied minors. Without access to food, some mothers said they have boiled grass to feed their children and calm their crying.
Please support this event and purchase either a ticket to attend in person or view it online. Every dollar will make a difference to the children, their families and other adults displaced in Afghanistan. In the meantime, you might also like to make a donation to our fundraiser found at https://chuffed.org/project/138011-butterfly-of-hope-afghan-support .
You can purchase tickets by clicking on the "Find Tickets" link. If you can't find it or that does not work please go to https://events.humanitix.com/butterfly-of-hope-fundraising-concert.
We have another fundraiser coming up. This is the screening of the pro-Palestinian movie "Palestinians Don't Need Sidewalks". This screening will be across zoom on 4th of April, 2026 at 9.00 PM Adelaide time, finishing about 11.00 PM. This equates to 9.30 in NSW and Victoria, 8.30 PM in Queensland and 6.30 PM in W.A. The zoom link will be sent out once your order ticket order is confirmed. Please go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1394061026073816/ to book. Make sure you follow the "Find Tickets" link to actually click through to Humanitix and book your ticket.
We also have a chuffed fundraiser so please feel free to make any donation you can there at anytime. The link is https://chuffed.org/project/138011-butterfly-of-hope-afghan-support.
Contact Details
Chris Schmidt: Ph 0461 381 109
Email: [email protected]