Hello and firstly Thanks for taking the time to visit Paul Hennessey's JustGiving page - whether you are interested in supporting me and the Everton Foundation, want to know more about what I am doing or just want a good laugh as I suffer through the next 5 months of preparation, training and living a healthy lifestyle....then welcome to my page - I will try to keep my progress updated on a weekly basis!

There are two reasons for me running the Pittsburgh Marathon - firstly to prove to myself I am able and dedicated enough to work towards running 26-odd miles and secondly (and definately most importantly) to do this for a cause that does a lot on good in improving peoples lives, empowering a great number of individuals and is generally just a great cause.

The Everton Foundation is a registered charity (www.evertonfoundation.org) offering sporting oppurtunities to individuals and groups perhaps that sometimes that are not able to, or certainly face barriers to playing sport and more specifically football particularly (but not exclusively) in the Greater Merseyside Area of England.

This isnt about which team you support - whether you even like football (or soccer), just the chance to do something, however small to give more people the chance to play the game I love...and then for me to celebrate in style once its all over!!!

Although the foundation supports a great Numberof ventures and programs, I aim to raise money for The foundations Disability in Football and Women's Football in the Community Programmes.

The Everton Foundation is proud to have the largest and most respected disability football programme in the world, with over 10,000 football opportunities for disabled children and adults delivered each year.

Our partners and community coaches have worked with over 60 schools in the Merseyside area alone. We also provide training to teachers and coaches on the specific area of working and coaching with disabled players, as well as hosting a number of disability awareness events at schools and colleges throughout the North West.

Over the past five years, various funding opportunities have allowed the Everton Foundation to offer free coaching for disabled children in schools across the North West, both during curricular and extra-curricular hours.

We also offer opportunities in community day centres to disabled adults from different regions, as well as disability soccer camps, awareness days and education for coaches and teachers.

A very important part of the programme is to empower disabled people and help them integrate back into mainstream society.

 

The Everton Foundation has a growing Women's and Girls programme, which reflects the national trend of football becoming the most participated sport for Women's and Girls. Engaging with girls as young as 5 years old all the way through to Everton's successful Ladies senior team, The Everton Foundation provides opportunities for girls and women of all abilities to enjoy exercise through football. The programme also provides girls with positive role models and inspires women and girls to be involved in activities that are hugely beneficial; physically, socially and psychologically.

The grassroots programme provides opportunity for girls from 5-16 to experience football in an environment that encourages, inspires and motivates.

Now if you feel compelled or able to give anything (no matter how small), 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, however small -you'll be making a massive difference.

 

Week 1: A few visits to the gym and two ealry runs into downtown Baltimore, Saturday marks my first 7 mile run, not a massive deal - but this'll be the first step towards being in a serious running condition - thanks to a few of the lads at Challenger Sports and my coaching coordinators for your kind words and advice so far, hopefully I'll see a few of them in Pittsburgh in May.