In September, 15 Citi colleagues and I will be completing a challenging five-day trek of the Great Wall of China with an aim of collectively raising £72,000 for Place2Be.

About Place2Be:

Place2Be is a children’s charity who provides emotional and therapeutic services in primary and secondary schools, building children's resilience through talking, creative work and play. Place2Be provides children’s mental health services in 294 primary and secondary schools, reaching a total school population of 142,000 pupils, helping them to cope with wide-ranging and often complex social issues including bullying, bereavement, domestic violence, family breakdown, neglect and trauma. 

A bit about me:

Sports has always been an integral part of my childhood years and squash was always my chosen sport. I was a Indian National Junior Squash Champion and an All-American Varsity honours. Once squash started to take a back seat, I discovered my love for the outdoors and started running adventure marathons, including the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and the Antarctica (yes, I ran these). I even got myself to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro along the way. Whilst pursuing my passion for the outdoors, I was fortunate to be associated with various charitable causes, incl.City Squash, Asha for Education, and Seeing is Believing and through generous donations, raised significant amounts. While I still yearn to complete a marathon or more in each of the 7 continents, personal ambitions had taken a bit of a pause and much of life is currently about raising my two young kids.

Place2Be was just the opportunity that I needed to get back on my feet and make every step count (literally!). Being a parent of two little ones, it’s a scary thought of any child having to suffer from wide-ranging and often complex issues and this gave me a reason to focus once again on running and fund raising.

Your support:

I do sincerely hope that you can help me in raising the much needed funds for a cause no less worthy than the emotional well-being of kids and young people, who need it the most. Through your donation you will be supporting the next generation and enabling them to build their futures confidently. Many thanks for your support!

Cheers

Vinay