Dear All

This fundraiser is dedicated to Urban Synergy. The founder, Leila and the team are amazing at everything they deliver for kids in SE London, and more recently, kids nationwide https://www.urbansynergy.com/

We aim to raise £10,000.00 as I deliver 100 personal training sessions to a group of eight friends at gyms across London, outside of my full-time job in finance... 

Gym locations are all over London, with a focus on South London where Urban Synergy are based: Catford, Bexleyheath, Surrey Quays, Lambeth, Sydenham, West Ham, Wandsworth, Shoreditch.

The training period will be from Thursday January 6th 2022 to Friday April 15th 2022.

The time taken to coach my friends and physically travel to their gyms will take up to 20 hours of my week for 14 weeks and will see most weekends given up for charity January - April.

All the money I charge my friends for PT will be going to Urban Synergy via this JustGiving page.

Your support today will support the immediate mission: expansion of the team and rollout of volunteer training / role model workshops. And also support longer term projects such as a self-sustaining, e-learning tech platform that can be brought to the school classroom and help Urban Synergy achieve nationwide impact. 

Urban Synergy's Story

Urban Synergy is a youth empowerment charity, on a mission to inspire, guide and ignite the ambitions of young people. 

Their approach focuses on early support, to build confidence and show young people what's possible. That's why they connect them with aspirational - yet relatable role models and mentors, as well as industry leading companies.

Understanding that every young person, their circumstance, and their dreams are unique, they tailor their school programmes, mentoring and work experience opportunities to help them reach their individual potential. 

With the collaboration of our valued partners, they are building an equitable world where everyone, regardless of their background, is empowered to write their own future.

My Story. Why am I raising for Urban Synergy?

I first connected with Leila Thomas (CEO) and the Urban Synergy team in August last year. I was immediately drawn to their vision to build a nationwide-scale charity that can create transformative mentoring opportunities for 16-18 year olds. These mentor-mentee programmes last 3 months and while the kids are eager to continue these relationships, there are so many more young people to be served as we work towards a more equal society in terms of opportunity. 

Unfortunately, the "professional network" gap continues to get wider (i.e. kids who have access to contacts in industry through family, and those who do not). Urban Synergy are taking measurable steps and delivering tangible results to bridge this. The charity was founded in 2007 by Leila Thomas and volunteer led for the next 11 years. The charity has now expanded to around 10 full-time employees, and last year, guided 6,515 young people in SE London in a meaningful way. The focus remains the same however with an openness to everyone as the charity looks to scale to the rest of the UK and is currently supporting mentoring in Birmingham.

My Mum was raised in Croydon and the youngest child of two WW2 veterans who immigrated from Poland in 1940-1950s. She remains the most intelligent person I know, often reading a book a day during her childhood and deserved access to support that would have better guided her study decisions and career choices. She went to a great uni, albeit limited by location, and simply did not have the access to information (internet and individuals in industry) that could have helped her navigate such a defining chapter and explore a wider range of opportunities. Information is now abundant but access to the right individuals (in family or friends) absolutely is not. 

I was also born and raised in SE London but with two crucial differences. Mum was the first person in her family to go to university and her example gave me the stamina to persist with school and the curiosity to find meaning in a career. The second difference was I went to a school in Bromley with clear university guidance. Knowing the contrast between her and my story, I deeply understand why a post code should not define one's future. I hope to empower as many kids through Urban Synergy as possible.

The next three months is a dedication to my Mum who worked so hard to give myself and brother Chris G the opportunities to get where we are today, and I want to pay it forward to as many girls and boys who come from backgrounds not too dissimilar to my parents. These kids, like my Mum, have the vision and drive to go so far, and will stop at nothing to get what they value.

I am proud to be part of this diverse SE London community, having lived in four "SE" postcodes and I am excited to support a charity that has the potential to improve social mobility on a national scale.

Why Else?

Since beginning my career in 2017, I have been fortunate enough to encounter amazing mentors in the most unlikely of places and seeing how Urban Synergy creates these opportunities for kids at critical junctures in their education, makes this such an easy cause for me to support. 

As a current mentor at Urban Synergy, I have seen first hand the beliefs that can be transformed in a short space of time. Any new-found belief stays with the mentees for life and could be the catalyst for these kids taking advantage of previously unseen opportunities.

As for eight of my friends I am training: they and I have fallen out of love with the gym due to covid lockdowns and injuries, and I have a genuine belief that I can get them back into new and improved routines that they enjoy, look forward to and part of a healthy, balanced life style. Ultimately I want to help improve their relationship with their fitness through awareness and the resulting feeling of consistency.

A  thank you to anyone who has read to this point. All messages and donations of support are really appreciated.

And most of all, a huge thank you to my friends who are incredible mates and I would not be able to attempt this challenge without. Thank you Pasc P, Tom Mak, Pasc B, Lamar, Nate, Tom P, Chris and Ian. 

Take care everyone and happy 2022.