In January 2011 I will be travelling from Worcester, England to Mumbai, India to run the full 42km / 26.2 mile ‘Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon’ on the 16^th January to support an extremely worthwhile charity called ‘Toybank’.

This is my first marathon, the training is going really well and I can't wait to run for Toybank! So please sponsor me! :-)

Toybank is a non-profit organisation that was set up in 2004 with the aim of providing toys to children from weaker socio-economic backgrounds.

Toybank was one of the main NGOs (Charities) featured recently on a Channel 4 documentary; ‘Slumdog Secret Millionaire’. This programme followed dental professional, business entrepreneur and subsequent CEO of UK based charity ‘The Sharma Foundation’ Seema Sharma, as she discovered the extreme deprivation and poverty in the slums and streets of Mumbai.

www.thesharmafoundation.org

Shweta Chari, the CEO and core founder of Toybank truly inspired me whilst watching this programme back in January 2010. Shweta has an unwavering positivity about Toybank’s success, her abundant enthusiasm for new fundraising ideas inspires masses and she conducts herself with a focussed, yet humble determination to give children a healthy and happy childhood.

Toybank acts as a leveller of society by accepting toys from those who can give and distributing them to the ones in need, bringing smiles to the faces of very deprived children.

For further information about my chosen charity please visit:

www.toybank.org

Street children are subject to malnutrition, hunger, health problems, substance abuse, theft, harassment from the police and railway authorities, physical and sexual abuse. There is evidence that childhood and adolescent depression is on the rise through the child’s growth years. Play with toys helps to distract the children from these hazardous environments.

Play is an essential part of a child’s cognitive, social and emotional education and wellbeing. For many of these children this toy from Toybank is their only toy.

‘The Sharma Foundation’ is a UK registered charity that will distribute all of the money I raise to Indian registered charity; ‘Toybank’. When you donate money to support my marathon run ALL of the money will go to Toybank, India.

I am personally paying for all of own my expenses, including; my flights, accomodation, marathon entry fee, sundries and spending money. This way ALL of your sponsorship money will go straight to the charity and spent where it is most needed by Toybank for the children.

I am so proud to be associated with such a positive organisation, so please show your support, sponsor me and help me raise my target of £5000.

Together we can give these children back their right to a childhood.

 

For details of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon please visit:

 

http://www.procamrunning.in/scmm/index.php

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.