Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Call it a mad attempt to get fit now that I've turned 40 or call it an early mid-life crisis to help what is a great charity, but I’m doing the this April and would really, really appreciate your support.

This will be my fifth (and definitely last!) marathon and I must confess that I am finding the training very challenging! I’m building up some mileage, (my longest run to date was 18 miles and it hurt!), but almost certainly insufficient to avoid the marathon being an agonising experience!

Still, it means that you have the opportunity to participate vicariously and to help a fantastic cause.

We all know that having access to the right influences can help children through the challenges of youth. I was lucky enough to enjoy lots of support from my parents and I know this helped me stay on the straight and narrow.

Friends United Network (FUN) supports vulnerable children from underprivileged lone-parent families. FUN recruits, screens and trains, long-term adult volunteers who take a child out for 3-4 hours every week. FUN volunteers are a bit like honorary uncles or aunties - providing stability and emotional support to children that desperately need it.

All the children FUN supports are from single parent families facing long term difficulties such as mental health problems, learning disabilities and severe financial hardship. Many of the families have experienced domestic violence and many children are young carers to their own parent and younger siblings.

Every volunteer makes an initial commitment of two years and most continue to provide support for five years. All children need consistent adult support in their lives, the chance to enjoy their childhood and to realise their potential. This support demonstrably makes all the difference to these kids and FUN achieves great outcomes.

With your help, I want to make a material contribution to FUN. Whilst their volunteers give their time for free, the professional recruitment, screening, training and back-up from FUN costs about £3,000 per child.

If you’d rather contribute by cheque, that would be fine. Cheques should be made out to Friends United Network and can be sent to me to pass on.

Please contribute generously … and think of me slogging through those endless miles. It’s the last 25 I’m worried about……….!

I really appreciate your help,

Christoph

 

PS  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.

So please dig deep and donate now.