marsha shandur is fundraising for Help the Aged

marsha terrifies herself by running a marathon

ING New York Marathon 2009

on 01/11/2009

what has she gotten herself into?

Photos (3)
- unpeterbed by enforced fancy dress.

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Team members:

Marsha Shandur

Raising money for

Help the Aged

Charity Registration No. 272786

Help the Aged is an international charity dedicated to creating a world where older people can live their lives free from poverty, isolation and neglect. It raises public awareness, campaigns for changes in policy, and provides practical support to help disadvantaged older people lead independent lives. Help the Aged believes that older people should not be sidelined by society, but should be able to live with dignity as valued, respected and involved members of their communities.

On 1 April 2009, Age Concern England and Help the Aged joined together to create a new charity dedicated to improving the lives of older people.

Operating under the name ‘Age Concern and Help the Aged’, we speak with one voice on behalf of all older people.

Page owner

marsha shandur

RSS

Raised: 165%

Target: £2,000.00
Raised so far: £3,309.40

Donate now

My story

Hello.

On November the 1st, I am running the New York Marathon. The last organised run I did was I Ran The World in 1986. I came last out of everyone in the Blackheath and Greenwich area. As I puffed my little unfit child self across the finish line, they were dismantling the barriers. I am, as you can imagine, pretty terrified.

The charity I'm running for is Help The Aged. Anyone who's ever heard me talk about my granny will know I was close to her. When she died, I had countless people telling me, "I never met her, but I always used to tell people the story about when she...". If you want to read some of these stories (or look at funny pictures), I made her a myspace here.

The idea of old people being cold, lonely or in any way desperate utterly breaks my heart. One in five UK pensioners live below the poverty line. Nearly 50% of them consider the television to be their main form of company. 500,000 of them spent Christmas Day alone last year. Hearing this kind of stuff makes me want to cry.

Help The Aged is an international charity that does everything from providing Christmas meals to lobbying the Government about age discrimination. They campaign to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation, neglect and ageism. If you've ever known anyone old, or have any intention of being an old person one day, this charity is relevant to you.

If you're bored and fancy making me a running compilation cd, I can't tell you how amazing that would be - address is here. If you include your address, I'll send you one of mine in return.

One more thing: every penny of the money I'm raising here goes to Help The Aged. I'm paying my own airfare, race entry and am staying with friends. I promise this isn't one of those, "Sponsor me to do a charity walk that's actually nicely paying for my trip of a lifetime!" affairs. Now, here comes the science bit:

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Anything at all that you can donate would be awesome. Even a couple of pounds is better than nothing. Please feel free to be anonymous if you'd rather. Just think of poor old people alone on Christmas day. Or suffering daytime TV as their only friend substitute.

Thank you. Seriously, anything you give at all is massively awesome and I really appreciate it.

xmarsh

PS if you are too, I'm on twitter: www.twitter.com/marshamusic

	Well done marathon buddy! Never forget what an amazing achievement this is xx Donation by Tom Bedwell 22/11/09	£26.20 + £7.39 Gift Aid
	sorry it's not much, marsha. very well done! an awesome feat..feet..pun somewhere.. Donation by vix 22/11/09	£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid
	Marsha! You Rule!! Great work! Donation by Amul 20/11/09	£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid
	Good one, Marsh! xx Donation by Dave 15/11/09	£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid
	Well done! Donation by Steve 15/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Donation by veronica m smith 14/11/09	£10.00
	old people should be very grateful to you. very well done indeed. x Donation by richard latham 11/11/09	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Congratulations Marsha! Hero. Donation by Samuel Roberts 10/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Marsha my dear you are an absolute star xxxxxxxxx Donation by tom sanders 06/11/09	£50.00
	Hey dudette, congratulations on the run buddy. No idea how anyone can run that far!? Well done, massive achievement!! Euge x Donation by Euge 05/11/09	£20.00
	Amazing that you did it! Good to see sleve notes on Inbetweeners CD. Donation by William 05/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Well done Marsh and thanks for being terrified and doing it anyway! xxx Angela and Olga Donation by angela brewer 05/11/09	£50.00
	Fantastic work Marsh. Great cause too. Congratulations. Donation by Dan WS 03/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Congratulations - amazing achievement. Px Donation by paul jackson 03/11/09	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Go girl - I'm in awe of your efforts! Well done Donation by Bobby Seiler 03/11/09	£5.00 + £1.41 Gift Aid
	Marsha, you are a total star!!! Well done on raising so much money for such a worthwhile cause. x Donation by Kali Anderson 03/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Been meaning to get round to this...MASSIVE congrats on completing the Marathon. Apparently running the things is addictive.... Bxx Donation by Bex 03/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	I meant to donate earlier, honest. I wasn't waiting to see whether you made it. WELL DONE! Donation by Oliver Richards 03/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	well done, Marsh - you should be massively proud of your self. We are (of you. not us. we've done nothing). Hope the blisters subside soon! xx Donation by soph & max 03/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Well done Marsha! You did it! I don't do run so am mega impressed with you and anyone who makes this kind of commitment. ;-) xx Donation by Yasmin Quadri (Yazzy Que) 02/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Well done Marsha! Angharad (4-yr-old from Dulwich) was sad that you weren't on XFM on Sat evening, but was very impressed that you were doing this! Donation by Becca Linssen 02/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	Congratulations. It really is a race of two halves isn't it? The first 20, and the last 6.2. Donation by Tony Gardner 02/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	hope you survived! xxx Donation by Jess McGregor 02/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Go Marsha! Donation by Neil Shanlin 02/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Viva babushkas everywhere! Donation by Nora and Martin 01/11/09
	Good luck Marsha! Donation by @stiffinho 01/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	This is because you're mad Donation by Pete 01/11/09	£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid
	Good luck Marsha! Donation by Calum Shanlin 01/11/09	£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid
	Good luck, Marsha! xx Donation by Val Watt 01/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid
	best of luck this morning! I'm another of those people who hardly ever runs for a bus, never mind 26 miles. Donation by Martin Deutsch 01/11/09	£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid

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* Total raised online:	£3,309.40
Offline donations:	£0.00
Gift Aid plus supplement:	£764.19

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