I’m running a marathon – for my new charity of the year

Hello, and I'm Sarah Hawes from Izzy PR - a PR and marketing consultancy based in Kent.
One of my charity clients is Holding On Letting Go and right now, they need a fundraising boost, so I've made them my charity of the year to help support them when they need it!

Here's how and why:
“I’m never running a marathon!” 
I’ve said this for years, over and over, because I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to train, haven’t got the time, I get bored running for longer than half an hour and I’m not great with massive crowds.
I know my limits and a marathon is beyond them…until now that is!

I’m finally going to run a marathon – as part of the #2.6Challenge, the
fundraising idea launched by the organisers of the London Marathon to help small charities to recover some of their lost income because of lockdown.

It involves doing a challenge related to the number 26. You can complete your challenge on Sunday 26^th April when the marathon should have taken place, or spread it over the week, which is what I will be doing!

I'm going to run 26 miles in a week and ask for sponsorship of £2.60 from anyone who can and wants to donate!

The #2.6Challenge
I’m going to run a marathon in a week, so that's 26 miles, plus I'll also do 26 press ups each day and 26 sit ups too.

I’m asking everyone to donate £2.60 to me – hopefully a smaller, affordable amount for people so that I can raise lots of money for them next week by using Lord Sugar’s early business model…stack them high, sell them cheap!
Lots of £2.60 donations will really add up!

Who's HOLG and what do they do?
They support bereaved children and sadly, there are going to be many of them during coronavirus. A dear friend of mine is one of them and they’ve already been in contact with her to support her.

Months of planning has gone down the drain for HOLG, and
their income has been reduced massively – some won’t be able to provide what they need to.

I work with HOLG every month, planning and taking care of
their marketing, working with the fundraising team to promote their events and thank their supporters.

They have been busy thinking of fundraising alternatives and have joined the #2.6Challenge – and it seemed a good time for me to get involved, announce them as my charity of the year and do something!

They are based in Rochester but work across the county, supporting children who are bereaved. They are unique in that they focus on the support for the child; there are already many adult bereavement charities.

When a family is bereaved, sometimes the children’s grief isn’t addressed – and this is not a criticism. How do you support your child when you’re bereaved too?

This is where HOLG comes in – to offer support to your child but also to you, so you can support each other as a family, having learnt gentle ways to deal with the surge of emotions bereavement brings.

I’ve had the privilege of speaking to many of the families they support – some of their stories are heart breaking.

Car accidents, so the death is sudden, other accidents which means their loved one is disabled or severely injured and different to how they were before, for some of them, a parent took their own life, or a sibling died.

HOLG also now supports families when they know a bereavement is coming – through terminal illness, or now, due to coronavirus.

Their work is so vital and most of it is delivered at monthly bereavement
support weekends, where the children and their family come to learn now to hold onto precious memories and let go of the painful ones.

The children can talk, share, make things, explore their feelings through music, art and crafts to name a few, but crucially, they get to meet others like them.
Others whose mum or dad died, or older brother or younger sister died. All of a sudden, they’re not the only child who had someone die.

For the adults, they get to meet each other, share their experiences and learn how to help their children after the weekend.

These weekends are vital for parents and children to understand what’s happened and look to the future – read their stories on the website to see what an impact they have made.

Can you sponsor me?
I’d love to have your support and am only asking for £2.60…I hope that’s
not too much. More will also be gratefully received but I want to make this affordable so that less is more in the end!

Thank you so much!

Save the UK's Charities
General fundraising has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of fundraising events have been cancelled and many charities, particularly smaller ones, are struggling to maintain services because of this huge reduction in income.This impacts all sectors of society from children to the elderly as well as the vital work in areas such as palliative care, serious diseases, mental health, housing support, food supplies and countless others that charities support.