Sophie's page

Sophie McDonnell is raising money for Action for Children

Story

Hi,

This year I'm running the Great North Run - a half marathon of 13.1miles - for Action for Children.

As most of you know, I'm not a runner, in fact, I'm not even much of an athlete, but I've been training since January and am no longer in the sorry state of not being able to run 1 mile!

I've ran in the rain, wind and sun and have really pushed my body to the limit - but I wouldn't be doing this if it hadn't been for such a good cause.

I used to work for Action for Children and I've seen first hand the fantastic work they do for thousands of vulnerable children, young people and their families right across the UK.

I'm not going to write the official facts about AfC, although you can read more by using the links on this page. What sticks in my mind are the occasions I've personally seen, where an exhausted family have benefitted from a short-term residential break for their disabled child, or where a young carer has had a day out where, for once, they were looked after instead of doing the looking after.

This is what your money could buy:

£5 could help fund a place in an after-school activity session
£10 could pay for a young carer to come to our homework club for an hour each week
£15 could pay for a volunteer to take a disabled child out to the zoo or to the cinema
£20 could help pay for a day out at a theme park, giving a young carer a memorable experience and the chance to simply be a child again.

Even a couple of quid will help me reach my target of £250, and knowing that I'm raising money for such a worthwhile cause will help me through those last 10 miles!

Here's an article I wrote for the BBC Tyne website about my training... don't judge me!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tyne/hi/things_to_do/newsid_8197000/8197121.stm

Thank you again for supporting Action for Children. The money you raise will help to make a real difference to the lives of the 156,000 vulnerable and excluded children and young people that we work with each year.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Sophie x

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.