Confessions of a Fundraiser - Lewis

Hello! My name is Lewis, I'm a second-year maths and physics student from a glamorous town called Kilmarnock!

I first became aware of this opportunity last summer and was immediately hooked. I was meant to travel to Malawi for a charity project in the summer of 2020 but sadly this was cancelled, so when I learned this was happening I knew it was something I had to get involved in. An incredible challenge for an incredible cause and I'm really excited to see what we can all achieve!

My fundraising started a little unorthodox. Late last year I started making plans for my fundraising to start in January or February but as a working student, I was also planning on funding some of this myself. Then I was made aware of a campaign called The Big Give. During this, any donations made would be matched by a corporate sponsor and I decided to donate as much as I could to support this campaign and those that would benefit from it the most.

That was how I started but now I've got stuck into my proper fundraising. Currently (at the time of writing), I'm in the middle of a challenge to run the height of Kilimanjaro (5,895m) every single day in February. It's been really good fun and it was all going great but sadly last week I got Covid. I've kept up the challenge of running back and forward in my garden every day to reach the 6km but it's not been quite as easy!

I really can't wait to get out to East Africa and get started on the challenge. I'm excited to travel properly for the first time in a while, I'm excited to go to that part of the world for the first time but most of all I'm excited to see the impact we can have on the communities in Bomet County, Kenya.

If there's anyone out there considering signing up for the challenge in 2023 I would strongly recommend it. To me, it's the sort of thing that everyone gets so much out of. Those in need in Kenya receive help and we all get to push ourselves to complete this huge challenge. It's a brilliant opportunity for anyone and the team is so helpful and experienced that it makes the process so easy.

I do have a couple of plans for fundraising in the next few months but nothing finalized yet. We do have a group raffle running until the end of February that so many people have done so well to organise. I've been really lucky that I'm surrounded by such generous people that have supported my fundraising in such a huge way but I do still have a little bit more to go so keep watching and you'll see what I've got planned!

Thanks so much for joining us on the blog this month Lewis, we can't wait to see you reach Kilimanjaro in the summer!

Since writing this Blog, Lewis has completed his February challenge covering an incredible 180km and raised just over £2,350.