Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. And thanks, too, for your interest in donating to our fund-raising drive in aid of the victims of Pakistan's disastrous floods. Appeals have been ongoing for weeks now, and you might  have given already. But the longer this goes on, the clearer it is that the impact will be huge and long-lasting for the millions of people in Pakistan's affected areas. For example there is now a serious risk to survivors from potentially deadly diseases, including cholera, which spread as a result of contaminated water. We wanted to do our little bit to raise money and help provide some relief as the crisis continues.

A small band of us - colleagues at work in the British Embassy, Washington, will bike non-stop for 12 hours on Fri 10 September in search of sponsorship for this cause. Any and all donations would be hugely appreciated. And whoever makes the closest estimate to our total mileage (to be put in your comment), wins a bottle of wine.

We have chosen to donate money from UK taxpayers through the Disasters Emergency Committee, which is a collection of all the main UK aid agencies and their partners. US taxpayers can donate through Oxfam America at http://www.firstgiving.com/fspgbike-a-thon

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 - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.