It gives me great honour to be running the London Marathon on Sunday 21st April 2024 for a charity close to my heart Home-Start UK. I ran my first 🏃🏽‍♀️ London Marathon last year and thought I’d never be doing this again… But when Home-Start kindly asked I couldn’t refuse.

If you’ve followed me for a while now may have heard me talk about the impact Home-Start has had on my family's life. Home-Start came to my family's rescue when my mum sadly passed away when I was 4 💗 Home-Start is a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. 

I called our Home-Start volunteer 'Grandma Paula'. She didn’t want my early tragic experience of losing my mum to hold me back. She was an English teacher, and soon we fell into a regular routine of our own little reading classes. I had been falling behind at school, but she inspired me to stay focused. When I heard that I had been accepted into University of Cambridge 🎓 I deeply wished I could have called 'Grandma Paula' to tell her. Looking back now I can see that having someone who believes in you at a young age makes such a difference to your future self.

The work Home-Start does today is as important as ever and I want anyone requiring their services to receive a similar level of help and be matched with a ‘Grandma Paula’. In the 50 years since Home-Start was founded, an incredible 1.5 million children, and their parents, have been supported to overcome challenges and build a brighter future.

📲 I promise to train tirelessly. I’ll be providing you with daily/weekly updates and you can follow all the progress on Instagram: @sharenashiv

💷 I am aiming to raise £3,000 and this is only achievable with your support.

I would appreciate any donations/support from you 🙏🏽 Please contribute as little or as much as you feel comfortable to afford (maybe forgo a cheeky Deliveroo/Uber for the week!)

Please help me reach my target and hopefully exceed it! 🥳 A massive thank you in advance ♥️

BRING ON THE WINTER RUNNING!!! Eeeekk….

Sharena xxxx

P.S. If you’re a UK taxpayer, make sure you add Gift Aid. Home-Start UK gets an extra 25p from the government for every £1 you donate, at no cost to YOU!

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.