Poole woman who raised £5,000 wins JustGiving Award

Krista Sharp from Dorset, who raised more than £5,000 for a local charity which supports young carers, has won a GoCardless JustGiving Award.

The ex-teacher, from Poole, has won the Community Hero Award for her efforts running the London Marathon last year to raise money for MYTIME Young Carers, a UK based charity which provides young carers across Dorset and the Isle of Wight, between the ages of 5-25, with support, friendship and opportunities.

Krista was presented her award by Radio 1 presenter, Dean McCullough, last night (September 25th) at the Roundhouse in London. She said:

“’I am absolutely stunned to have won this award, it means so much to me and I am so grateful to everyone who voted for me. Young carers are the most incredible children I have ever met and I am inspired by their courage and resilience every day. Running the London Marathon to raise vital funds for MYTIME was the best day of my life and I am grateful to everyone who supported me on the way.”

Television personality, Jamie Laing and radio host, Matt Edmondson hosted the eleventh year of the awards which saw seven winners as well as JustGiving’s Charity of the Year announced at the ceremony. Since JustGiving started in 2001, more than £6 billion has been raised for good causes in more than 180 countries.

Matt Edmondson said “Getting to co-host the GoCardless JustGiving Awards with Jamie is like finding a double-word score in Scrabble—brilliant and rewarding! Tonight’s finalists have touched us deeply with their stories, and they’re all champions, as far as I’m concerned.”

The finalists were selected from more than 13,000 nominations by a panel of judges including Radio DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams, Actress Angela Griffin, longstanding fundraiser, famous for wearing a charity shop outfit every day for one year, Caroline Jones and President and General Manager of JustGiving, Pascale Harvie and put to a public vote to win.

The award ceremony was attended by guests including Bill Bailey, Zoe Hardman, Ellie Simmonds, Rickie Haywood-Williams, Angela Griffin, Dean McCullough, Tillie Amartey, Neil Jones, Aimee Fuller and Faye Winter.

Also in attendance was ultra-athlete, campaigner and TV personality, Josh Patterson who won a Special Recognition Award.

The award recognises the outstanding contribution of an individual who has made a real impact on the world around them.

For more than five-years Josh has been an avid fundraiser for the Samaritans and in his most recent ‘Run for 1 Million’ challenge Josh ran 76 marathons in 76 cities on consecutive days.

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager at JustGiving said: “Congratulations to Krista on winning the Community Hero Award.  Krista’s raised some much-needed funds for MYTIME Young Carers charity and it’s been incredibly moving to see her unwavering dedication to help so many young carers. I simply cannot praise her enough.

“Celebrating the extraordinary accomplishments of our fundraisers and charities at the GoCardless JustGiving Award Ceremony was amazing – they should all be so proud of what they’ve achieved and the positive impact that they’ve had.”

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless added: “I was blown away by the work Krista has done to raise money for a very deserving local charity. It was an absolute privilege to recognise her achievement at the GoCardless JustGiving Awards Ceremony and I hope it inspires others to start or continue their fundraising journey.”

Additional images can be found at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15EaxlZERGakGBfAZoC0aa2TiyfUaJTBw?usp=drive_link

To read more about all the winners please visit https://blog.justgiving.com/2023-justgiving-awards-winners

NOTES TO EDITOR

For further information contact  press@justgiving.com

*All figures quoted include GiftAid and are accurate at the time of releasing this press release.

Figures quoted relate to fundraising activity on JustGiving only. JustGiving is one of many fundraising platforms that people can choose from when fundraising for events such as the London Marathon.

About JustGiving
JustGiving is the world’s most trusted platform for online giving. We help people raise money for the charities and people they care about the most. In 2000, JustGiving.com began with one simple goal – to enable charities to receive donations online from anywhere in the world. Fast forward 22 years and over £5 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world.

JustGiving became part of Blackbaud, the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good in 2017.

To note – JustGiving does not charge a fee on donations but instead operates a voluntary contribution model, meaning people donating can choose to leave a ‘tip’ if they wish. The only non-optional fee is a 1.9% + 20p to cover card payment charges.