Update: as a group we have agreed our chosen causes are Education Poverty and assisting Asylum Seekers.  We are still fundraising!  When fundraising is complete we will open the fund to for organisations who work within education poverty or asylum seekers to apply for grants.

A massive thank you to everyone who donated in July to help me smash my target by raising £1,189. My challenge was walking 150km in the month which I completed. I know 150km may not seem like a lot to some of you but I am still struggling with issues after the birth of my son so it's a big deal for me and I'm very proud of myself. Thank you for all your support and encouragement! 

Fundraising will continue until Sept so please keep donating and keep your eyes peeled for the next event/challenge.

All money raised will be donated to an exciting project I have been taking part in this year called the Circle of Change and will be put back into grassroots community organisations through Community Foundation NI. 

The Circle of Change is a group of people from all backgrounds across Northern Ireland who have come together to talk and learn from each other about the root causes of issues affecting our communities. Over 6 months we have discussed topics such as the Troubles, poverty, education, privilege and of course COVID which has highlighted serious inequalities and influenced much of our discussion. 

It is a completely unique model of fundraising. We harness our
resources and networks to fundraise and as a group we collectively decide on the most important issues and make grants to community organisations working on those issues. Issues we are considering include digital poverty, trauma informed family support and restorative justice influenced by the riots. 

The first Circle of Change ran from September 2018 to March 2019. It was a success raising over £50,000 and funded six excellent projects. The six local groups funded were: 

Bradbury Hub

Educational Shakespeare Company                               

Homeplus NI                                                                                          

Jigsaw Community Counselling Centre                                    

Loveworks Cooperative                                                                              

Our Social Space

For myself, it has been an amazing learning opportunity.  I tend to surround myself with people of similar values and opinions so meeting people from different social and political backgrounds has allowed me to understand their experiences better and increase my empathy towards those with different views.  It has also been uncomfortable at times as my own values and perception of myself has been challenged. One session that done this was discussing privilege. Growing up I may have considered myself less well off in comparison to my friends at school however listening to members of the group who are refugees, asylum seekers or grew up during the Troubles made me realised I was extremely privileged as I had amazing opportunities, safety of family and a secure community.

I will be sponsoring myself to walk 20km and I really hope you can sponsor me for a few more km.  If anyone would like to join me on a walk please get in touch!  Any support will be greatly appreciated, thank you!