Club For... Ukraine: Inside The Night Raising Funds & Serotonin Levels

The dance floor has often been used as a political tool. The acid house explosion at The Haçienda in Thatcher-era Manchester. Berlin in the nineties, when techno dissolved the wall between East and West. Tbilisi’s Bassiani, which carved a progressive LGBTQIA+ space in post-Soviet Georgia. Nightlife has long been where communities gather, where moments of collective release happen and something larger than a party begins.

That instinct is what sparked Club For... a nonprofit party where each night supports a different humanitarian cause.

February marked four years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Four years of lives lost and of Ukrainian people urging the world not to look away, even as the news cycle inevitably moves on. Around the same time, my mother came across a campaign run by Driving Ukraine, an organisation founded by 25-year-old Fynn Watt, which repurposes disused UK vehicles into ambulances and military transport. More than 300 have been delivered since 2022. Its latest initiative, Convoy 55, was an all-women convoy transporting medical aid from the UK to Lviv, timed to mark International Women’s Day and spotlight the vital work of women medics on the front line.

When my mother told me she was joining the convoy, Club For… Ukraine clicked into place. All proceeds would go to Driving Ukraine, with a FLINTA* line up in solidarity with the women making the journey. Even in 2026, women-led line ups remain the exception. The four DJs – Abimbola, Izzi, MiNNA and Zuri – each represent a different corner of UK dance culture. They said yes because they understood this wasn’t just about music.  

The crowd was comprised of the DJs’ fans, those who had heard about the cause, members of the Ukrainian community there to support their home country and, of course, those taking part in Convoy 55. As each set – spanning disco, amapiano, Latin funk and techno – unfolded, regulars to the venue, Bermondsey’s Avalon Cafe, intertwined with them all.

Club For… Ukraine was a reminder that nightlife is not just a place to escape what’s happening in the world outside, it’s an environment where people can come together, where awareness spreads organically and where small acts of solidarity can gather real momentum. (And where my mother could find her way to the centre of the dance floor for the whole night.) 

Convoy 55 has since delivered its vehicles to the Medical Battalion in Lviv. “It was incredibly emotional handing over the vehicles, especially when one of their team walked us through how the evacuations operate,” says Lindsey, who drove in the convoy. The group were later taken to Lviv‘s cemetery for those killed in the war — a stark and necessary reminder of what continues to be lost.  

Fynn Watt is direct about the stakes: “The urgent need for international support is undeniable, particularly now, even as the possibility of peace is discussed. The longer this invasion persists, the more challenging it becomes for people on the ground.” Funds raised went towards the convoy vehicles and front-line tech upgrades, including a Chuyka 3.0 drone signal detector.

Club For… returns in June and is currently looking for a partner organisation for Pride Month. As Charlotte from Convoy 55 put it: “All it takes for evil to take hold is for good people to sit back and do nothing.” Who said that can’t happen on the dance floor?

You can discover more about Driving Ukraine and donate to its next convoy here