Hi there - I'm running the London Marathon in April 2023 and would really appreciate your support. While I'm not much of a runner, I do my best to stay fit and healthy... BUT it is unfathomable to me that running 26 miles around London can be pleasurable for anyone. So... I decided to sign up and do it. And put myself through that fathomable displeasure in order to raise money, support and awareness for a charity that I care about deeply: Hope and Homes for Children.

Before explaining what the charity does, I would like to mention how I was introduced to it. What really pushed me over the line (pun intended) in choosing this charity over countless others that are equally worthy of support, is that I hold in great admiration a particular special person in my family who has dedicated, and continues to dedicate, decades of her life to supporting this charity. Over this time, she has been a tireless advocate for HHC and has been responsible for so much progress and change. While my financial contribution will be a drop in the ocean compared to her contribution over the years (and my dedication to training for the marathon doesn't come within 26 miles (...pun) of her dedication to this charity), I will most certainly be using her spirit to push through 'the wall' around mile 18!

That's all from me. Please donate generously. It really would mean a great deal.

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The world doesn’t need orphanages. They harm children and they harm society. And shockingly, 8 out of 10 children in orphanages have family members who would care for them – but a broken system hoards money, makes false promises, and keeps children neglected and families exploited.

The majority of those who experience life inside an institution suffer violence, abuse and neglect. Denied the chance to grow up in a family, they’re more likely to become homeless later in life, to have run-ins with the law, and to experience mental and physical health issues. The shocking truth is that these are almost always children who have, or could have, a family to look after them. To love them. But every day, the broken system puts pressure on parents to give up their children. They’ll be safe from war, can escape poverty, will get an education. False promises. No child should have to trade their family for their future.

Since 1994, Hope and Homes for Children has been working to stop the institutionalisation of children. They’re 200 people, in multiple countries, inspiring organisations, including the UN, EU and governments around the world, to close the doors of orphanages forever. Instead, they fight for every child to feel the love and belonging of a safe family home. To read more about the charity and understand their solutions to the orphanage system, please click here: https://www.hopeandhomes.org/what-we-do/how-we-work/the-solution/

Thank you again for your donations x