I'm running the London Big Half marathon on 1st September. I haven't run that sort of distance for many years and have come up with a load of excuses to avoid the race - bad back, too little time to train, too old - but I've decided to go for it. And that's because I'm running to raise money for hardship funds for West London Welcome (WLW), a charity which supports asylum seekers and refugees.
As most of you know, I'm a Citizens Advice caseworker, based within WLW for the past two and a half years. The single most effective tool I and other WLW advisers can access for our clients is the hardship fund which supports WLW members in emergencies.
In the past few months these funds have paid for emergency hotel accommodation. This keeps members with new refugee status who've been evicted from their Home Office hotels off the street while we sort out their homelessness. It's helped with some of the practical costs to bring their families to join them in the UK. It's paid for a return bus fare to Rotherham so that an asylum seeker could attend an appointment with a legal aid immigration lawyer - the closest legal help to London we could find. In smaller ways it's paid for Oyster Cards; birth certificates for new babies; GP letters supporting moves to more suitable accommodation; earplugs to shut out the noise of a roommate in shared hotel accommodation; a hat to hide hair loss caused by stress. If you live in an asylum hotel and have to live on £8.86 a week, these small things matter hugely.
WLW's hardship fund needs constant replenishing which is why I am running 13.2 miles on 1st September and asking you to support my trot/stagger/walk with a donation.
Thank you
