OUR CAUSE.

Delivering running activities and gifting running trainers to the young people living in temporary accommodation in Birmingham.

Read on for why we chose this Cause and what we’ve done so far…

BACKGROUND

The World Health Organisation suggest that young people aged 5-17 years should do at least 60 minutes of exercise every day.

The most recent “Active Lives” Survey by Sport England found that less than half young people in England met these guidelines. Children in lower socioeconomic groups are even less likely to be active.

With inactivity being described as the biggest public health crisis of the 21st century, the case for getting everybody active could not be clearer.

2021

Alongside our run tours, we've been providing physical activity sessions for children since Summer 2021.

I cried my eyes out on my drive home after my first work session there.

I felt so sad that some children grow up in a room instead of a home without proper shoes.

But they weren't sad. They were innocent young people who just wanted to run around and play, who needed my help not my pity.

Seeing them run around with flip flops, slippers and sometimes even without shoes was a grounding reminder that running for fun in proper footwear is a privilege.

On a personal level, my parents laid the foundations for me to live a healthy life by taking me to allllll the sports clubs from a young age.

It's one of the greatest gifts they could have given me, feeding into not just my physical and mental wellbeing, but my social life, confidence to run with like-minded strangers around the world and the opportunity to start a business in the fitness industry as an adult.

Not everyone's care givers can or choose to do the same, and the cycle repeats.

We hope running with young people, and gifting them trainers, will allow them to run safely and lay the foundations to keep going.

2022

AMOUNT RAISED: £1540

I’m writing this on Xmas Eve 2022, in my dressing gown, The Grinch on in the background, taking a rare moment to reflect and write about the best thing we’ve achieved at Run of a Kind so far.

After deciding that gifting running trainers to the young people living in temporary accommodation in Birmingham this Xmas would be Our Cause at the start of this year, I have a tear in my eye whilst writing to you to tell you that…

This week, I handed over 39 PAIRS OF brand new, fit for purpose, wrapped-up running trainers to THE children who have been attending our running sessions this year.

A LOT went on behind the scenes to get to this point.

The joys of running a start-up business include getting a lot of “no’s”. 

We reached out to many trainer brands, businesses and charities. We were ignored, received considered “no’s”, and came up against barriers to them being able to help us.

This is a completely normal part of life and business - and I’m not saying it’s not frustrating but every “no” means that a “yes” is even sweeter.

So how about those YESes?

Thank you Sutton Runner for giving us a mega discount on 26 pairs of trainers

Thank you Sports Direct for giving us 10% off the rest

Thank you Hannah for writing to the press and all her contacts, leading to a massive donation from Holly at Resorts World Birmingham

Thank you Jack for running a whopping 12 Half Marathons to raise awareness

Thank you Prit for donating his time and skills for #JackJogs

Thank you Darren for your energy & support in not just our cause but everything we do

Thank you Orla for getting stuck in & creating a video to demonstrate the work we do with the children, better than I ever could have

Thank you Katie for your enthusiasm and help with everything leading up to this

Thank you Tammy for all the work you do with the children who absolutely love you, for caring so much & spending a whole day getting the trainers

Thank you Mike from Run Brum Crew for getting your whole club behind this

Thank you Living Well for bringing this cause to our attention, and funding our initial work there

Thank you to the staff at the temporary accommodation venues who work so hard

Thank YOU for your generosity, money and time.

It’s only thanks to our community that we’ve been able to do it.

Alongside gifting the trainers, thanks to your donations, we’re able to fund ANOTHER entire month of fun running sessions with the children so they get to test their new trainers out!

No more running in dinosaur slippers, sliders, 2nd hand-ballet pumps, scuffed up trainers that aren’t made for running in & boots that are 3 sizes too big.

I got the lovely job of handing over the presents and seeing their little happy faces open them. 

I hope I've managed to encapsulate that in the video so that you get to see and feel the effects of your generosity.

Words cannot relay how grateful I am for you. As are:

Sabi age 11, Amatilla age 10, Zanab age 13, Ali age 10, Ismaea age 7, Sabirin age 9, Hamza age 9, Sarah age 8, Sajda age 8, Joao age 9, Imran age 9, Musa age 7, Ruweyda age 7, Sandora age 7, Salid age 5, Maida age 4, Mohammed age 3, Fatima age 4, Bilawal age 15, Troy age 14, Alayna age 13, Jaden age 18, Alissa age 13, Abduljbbar age 10, Meaco age 9, Dawda age 9, Maria age 11, Liza age 12, Kayden age 9, Aliza age 7, Hooria age 9, Salim age 6, Natel age 4, Hoorain age 6, Damon age 5, Hope age 3, Angel age 3, Muhammed age 4, Diwal age 6

2023

We were able to fund running sessions January - April 2023 via Business Profits from our Jog On Janaury Online Challenge and Very Important Runner Sign Ups, but unfortunately our subsequent Funding bids were declined.

Not giving up hope, Tammy, one of our fantastic Run Leaders, reached out to Dryrobe:

Much to our delight, they donated a Dryrobe Advance through their Warmth Project:

We hosted a Raffle within our run-der-ful community to fund our Cause, raising £150.

Well done to winner Kate - looks like she needed it (bloody English weather)

2024

We raised £80 from Jog On January & £100 from our Rotunda Run with Staying Cool, giving us a kitty of £330 with the Dryrobe £, which we planned to utilise putting on summer holiday activity sessions.

Whilst the work is fun & rewarding, it is challenging and I don’t like to ask people to work for free, so the plan was for Lucy, the Founder, to donate her time and use the small budget to pay other Run Leaders.

So you can imagine our delight when we had ANOTHER email to say we have been given a 2 YEAR contract to provide activities for disadvantaged young people aged 5-17 every week across 4 locations in Birmingham, starting on Monday 22nd July.

Stay tuned for our progress. In the meantime, if you’d like you can donate to this run-derful Cause below: