My Story

On September 8th, I’ll be participating in the Great North Run in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, aiming to finish the half marathon in under 2 hours! This race is more than a personal challenge — it's an opportunity to support a cause close to my heart: Action Foundation.

Action Foundation does incredible work helping refugees and asylum seekers integrate into our community by providing essential support services like housing, language classes, and case work support. I have worked in the past with them, and have seen the huge impact they have for many people seeking sanctuary in the North East. 

I've set an ambitious fundraising goal of £500 (and beyond??), which can provide a number of different programmes and initiatives within AF. Some of these include:

• £10 could pay for a personal care pack.
• £20 could pay for a months travel to AF's free english classes
• £30 could pay for warm bedding
• £70 could pay for heating and lighting in one of AF's houses for a whole week. 
• £75 pays for postage of evidence from overseas which could make the difference between a positive and negative asylum claim. 
• £150 could pay for an initial assessment of legal documents, helping a refused asylum seeker to navigate our complex immigration system
• £250 could provide a space in AF's supported accomodation for a month, providing stability and safety.
• £500 could pay for a furniture pack for a refugee moving into community housing, making a house a home. 

Being half-Dutch, I know how important it is to find and make a home in a new country. Working with Action Foundation in the past, as you can see - they do invaluable work in supporting those to build roots in the UK. In a deeper and deeper hostile country like ours, we need to STEP UP in helping those who have fled their homes. No body asks to be a refugee, we all deserve to feel safe. 

I have only been running for a year or so, but find it so enjoyable. I'm training pretty hard these days, and hope to achieve my goal of running 21k in under two hours. I'll look to keep you updated, through blog posts and links to reels I share on social media. Keep an eye out for other bits of fundraising I'll be doing in the run up to September too 🏃‍♂️.

Any donation, of any size, is HUGELY appreciated! 

Harley