I've just finished watching the Great British Budget Menu on BBC1. It's heartbreaking to see there are families and individuals who want to feed their loved ones well, and can't. I had an awareness how bad it can be for some families and individuals, but had no idea to what extent some people are making do with. In most cases, it's not even £1 a day.

Let me tell you something I'm not proud of. I used to spend £25 easily every week just on my lunch. That's £100 a month on lunch. How wasteful and ridiculous is that?

Let me tell you something I am proud of. These days I spend no more than £5 a week on lunch. I either take homemade sandwiches, or I tuck into what wasn't finished the night before.

That's hardly saintly, but in recent years I've taken a much harder look at how I spend that money.

And to know there are nearly 500,000 families that are affected by food poverty is just desperately sad. 

Here's what you can do about it:

1) Donate to me doing this walk (obviously)

2) Have a look at what you're spending on your weekly lunch and change your habits

3) See 1)

4) Donate what you don't eat at the end of the week (packaged and canned goods clearly) to your local food bank

5) See 3)

6) Give your family a hug for being there

So what am I doing? I'm going to walk to work. Doesn't sound like much of a feat, does it? Except work for me is a 20 mile walk.

Let me put that into context for you. That will take a normal fit person circa 6 hours to walk. 6 hours!

On an average day I probably walk less than a mile. I don't do walking on this scale. I'm not averse to walking. It helps me to use my legs, and get me from A to B. Where B is less than 100 yards from A.

I'm giving myself the lofty task of raising £1000. Because anyone who's likely to read this, and think they can donate is not in the position of being in food poverty. That means you can help me raise money for the Trussell Trust and make this happen.

You rock for doing this. I do too, but you lot do for making this happen.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

UPDATE: 14/08/2013

I have now completed this! Gosh I was so glad to finish. The last two miles were the hardest. My legs were hurting a lot, they were tired, and I just wanted to stop.

It was great reading tweets and getting messages of encouragement from friends. That really helped to keep me positive and power on through.

I am loving the donations coming through for this. The Trussell Trust do a great job of organising foodbanks. They are much needed, and this money will go towards helping them.

Thank you all for reading my story, and for your kind donations. You rock!