The Running Charity: Year One Round-up
On the 17 of June 2015 The Running Charity celebrated its first year as a registered charity. Since our foundation we have worked with over 200 young people and supported them to achieve their goals. Our members have reported improved fitness levels, benefits to their mental health and by working in partnership with other homeless services we have helped them to address the underlying causes of their homelessness.
At the start of this year, former member and graduate, Claude Umuhire was hired to support the expansion of our work across London. Claude’s opening month was a whirlwind of sessions and interviews with people in the media who were clamouring to hear about his journey from homeless Londoner to marathon hero.
Since then we have gone from three sessions a week with our incredible founding partner, New Horizon Youth Centre, to having twelve sessions a week at a variety of homeless day centres and hostels across London – with an expansion to a new city on course for September.
We receive so much support from so many: firstly our trustees have helped James and I lay the foundations of the charity and as they reach their first year of service with us we express our thanks for their support but probably more importantly for their patience. We have learnt that running a charity isn’t confined to the hands-on work we do with our young people, it is also about evidence, accountability, trust and paper work (lots of it!).
For me there are two things that have been truly inspirational for my work on a daily basis: firstly, our young people’s resilience and determination in the face of so many obstacles on a daily basis and they still turn up, lace their trainers and hit the streets to run and exercise. Second, which took me by surprise, is the generosity of people and organisations that understand what we are trying to achieve; they have provided funding, expertise, mentoring, equipment and exposure. The Running Charity cannot thank you all enough for your trust and support.
But this is only the start of our journey. In these uncertain times it seems almost inevitable that vulnerable and homeless young people’s lives will become increasingly more desperate, with the withdrawal of housing benefit for young people we will see an increase in rough sleeping. As a result, young people may need to put themselves in even more dangerous situations in order to have a roof over their heads. The young people in our society, whether they are born here, migrated or been forced to flee, are hardworking, understanding, intelligent and ambitious despite how they may be represented in certain publications. The Running Charity’s work seeks to highlight and celebrate their achievements.
I have the pleasure of working with such a committed team of employees and volunteers: James our visionary co-founder, Lucy Richards our determined fundraiser, Claude Umuhire our inspirational programmes officer, and our invaluable delivery team of Ezrin, Tom, Jerome, Steven and Toby, and finally, our Members Advisory Panel consisting of Peteris, Tony, Damaris, Ania, Christson, Emmanuel and Roxanne who keep our work routed firmly with the needs of our young people. Thank you – you make our charity a pleasure to work for.
Our team’s mission is to make our organisation something that the running community can be proud of and together we can make a significant contribution to ending youth homelessness.
Here’s to year two!
Alex Eagle
Co-founder & Managing Director
@mralexeagle
Feature photo | Feyesa and Tony at TRC’s first ever session