Update: We have one week left to raise the 2,500. I just donated 200 myself but we still have 800 to raise. We have already raised 1,700... so that should be easy! Please donate, share and ask your friends and family to donate. Also a massive thanks to everybody that has already donated... whether big or small amounts, thanks so much!
Let's start with the charity itself. What they do is kind of in the title Make-A-Wish grants wishes to young people aged between 3 and 17 that have life threatening conditions. There are a lot of incredible charities out there that aim to cure particular conditions, Make-A-Wish take a slightly different approach, in that they oversee the logistics of giving these children an experience. Memories. Many of these children rarely leave the hospital, or experience life away from their condition, so Make-A-Wish uses the money raised to organise trips to Disneyland or to let a child meet their favourite actor/actress on the set of a film.
When I have said this before, some people have said "Surely if it is a wish of a child in that condition, people would do it for free". Well yes, of course many would but the problem, in most cases, is getting the medical equipment and expertise to go with the child while they are travelling. Like I said, this is largely a logistics operation But it is a logistics operation that gives a once in a lifetime experience to children who really need and deserve it.
Stories about work that Make-A-Wish has done.
Hopefully you can see why I am so passionate about this particular charity. There are so many that do amazing stuff, but Make-A-Wish use all of the money raised to deliver experiences and just by reading through the stories you can see that they really do deliver on their promise of making wishes come true.
Please donate anything you can!
By now, it is quite likely that you will have seen that, in August, I will be trekking parts of the Great Wall of China to raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation UK. To celebrate raising 1,500 (60% of the target, well done everyone!) I would like to take some time to explain who they are, as well as some brief details of the trip, etc.
I was originally going to use some money I had saved up to have a nice relaxing holiday in Spain. That was until I went to a meeting, along with Edd Greer who was my housemate at the time, in which we were offered the opportunity to challenge ourselves by trekking the Great Wall of China and also to raise 2,500 by doing it. I'm never one to refuse a challenge but it took me a while to decide after all I am pretty unfit. But I then realised that Make-A-Wish was one of the charities that we could raise for, I was obviously quite motivated to help them!
So, I agreed to swap a relaxing holiday in Spain for 6 days trekking the Great Wall of China. And I am so glad I decided to!
One question that I am often asked is how much of the money raised goes to sending me to China. The answer, I am glad to say, is 0. Absolutely none of it. Since it is a charity trip, we do get reduced prices on flights but none of it comes out of the charity's pocket as we all individually have paid for the entire trip up front. It was just over 250 if I remember correctly.
We will be in China for 12 days and it will be split so that the first 6 days are trekking the wall and the second 6 days are as tourists in China (which I am also looking forward to doing as I have seen so many photos but have not yet been). Oh, talking of photos I plan to take a lot! I have no idea what Internet connection will be like out there, but I hope to take photos and at least write a blog, though I cannot promise it will be uploaded daily.