Hello and Welcome.....

Please excuse the insanely white teeth in this picture :)

My name is Jason Arday, I am a 24 year old Sports Lecturer at Richmond upon Thames College from Clapham, South London, and an alumni of St Mary's University College, Twickenham. I have been an avid fundraiser for 7 years, and in that time I have been very lucky to be a part of several fundraising initiatives which have raised substantial amounts for charity.

At the age of 17, I had what I can only describe as life changing experience. Over the Christmas period in December 2002, I was invited to volunteer at a local homeless shelter, what I saw, was to change my perception of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After that experience I set myself the aim of helping as many charities as I can over the course of my lifetime, and I set myself the target of raising a £250,000 before the age of 50, which thanks too so many people I am well on my way to achieving.

In the present, I have worked very closely with Shooting Stars Children’s Hospice for the last 4 years, and I was taken to the Hospice in Hampton, and this was a very humbling experience to witness was this charity does first hand! In the last 3 years whilst at University we were able to put on several fundraisers which raised just under £4,000, this proved to be a fantastic event which raised awareness of what the charity does and how it impacts hundreds of children’s lives every year.

The connection to Shelter is quite a recent one, 2 years ago whilst I was volunteering in a homeless shelter over Christmas, I came across a friend from Secondary School I had not seen for a couple of years, he had recently become homeless after a terrible sequence of events which led to him suffering from depression and becoming homeless. I introduced my friend to Shelter, who were able to provide him with emergency accommodation. Thanks to Shelter’s on-going work, he has just recently been found permanent accommodation, this has given him the opportunity to rebuild his life and move forward. However, without the tireless work of this charity, this would not have been possible.

What is my fundraising challenge?

This summer, I am attempting a momentous task, for which I am going to need your help! I will be attempting to complete 30 Marathons in 35 Days in under 5 hours each day from Monday 19^th July-Sunday 22^nd August. I will be taking various marathon trials across London culminating in 30 marathons (26 miles a day) in 35 days.

 

What is the target?

The target is to raise £5,000 for these two chosen charities, with the aim being to split the amount raised in half for the two charities!

Why is your support so important?

Your support is instrumental to me completing this task because we need to raise the required amount, and for this I will need you to delve deep into to your pocket and help me reach this target for these two charities, so that ideally we can raise £2,500 for each charity. As well as this, I going to need all the support I can get too get me through the 35 days of running, so what I am asking from people kind enough to donate, is if possible, come and join me over the summer complete a mile or two with me!

How will your donation help Shooting Stars?

Shooting Star offers a range of care services for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families. These can take place in the family home, in the community and at Shooting Star House, the purpose-built facility based in Hampton, Middlesex.

Shooting Stars care services are provided to families free of charge, 365 days a year. It costs £3 million every year (£8,000 a day) to maintain these care services, and with no long-term statutory funding, the majority of this comes from voluntary donations.

Website: http://www.shootingstar.org.uk/  Have a look at the phenomenal work this charity does!

How will your donation help Shelter?

Shelter homeless service is provides more than 200 specialist housing advisers. Shelter provide advice, information and help with legal and practical issues surrounding re-housing and homelessness. All of our services are free, professional and independent.

Shelter has more than 30 years' experience in dealing with housing problems. Shelter is able to; help with practical problems, explain complicated legal issues, help an individual to request and prepare for homelessness reviews, tribunals or court hearings and finally, place you in touch with other organisations that can help you. However, this is another service that is provided free of charge and for this valuable service to be maintained, it is heavily reliant on fundraising schemes and donations.

Website: http://england.shelter.org.uk/ Have a look at the phenomenal work this charities does!