Gethin Jones & Acre Properties take on a Tough Mudder challenge
Get ready for some filthy fundraising
Our Vice Chair, Sarah Donnelly, reports back on Gethin Jones’ latest fundraising endeavour for Renewable World.
Like every great Ambassador, our super celeb Gethin Jones has always got an eye out for opportunities to help us, even in the unlikeliest of places. On recently moving house he somehow ended up convincing his property agents (and new found friends) Acre Properties to take on the colossal challenge of a Tough Mudder event to raise money for Renewable World. They’ve never done anything like this before and most of them are terrified. So to ease their fears, Gethin is doing it with them!
The event will take place on Saturday 29th April, and they’ve set themselves an ambitious target of £10,000. I went to meet the team to thank them for choosing us and to tell them more about the people they will be helping and the difference their money will make.
I reminded them that many people trudge the five mile distance of this Tough Mudder course several times a day just to fetch water. Whilst they will end up caked in mud, many people have homes and lungs caked in soot from using toxic fuels (kerosene and firewood) for cooking and lighting. Whilst they may experience moments of regret during the course itself, it was their choice to do it and that itself is a luxury. Most of the people we work with have no choices or options.
The money Acre Properties raise will give whole communities access to renewable energy. This ‘power’ quite literally empowers them to start businesses, to make money, to get an education, to improve their health so they can control their own lives and destiny.
I hope the team can draw on these stories during their training and when they are slogging through the mud on the big day. I hope when they face daunting obstacles on the course, they will think of those for who whom life without electricity is a daily obstacle. I hope they will feel proud that by putting themselves through something so tough, they will be making life a little easier for those who need it most.
We are enormously grateful to our new friends at Acre Properties, and to Gethin, for taking on this challenge. Please sponsor them if you can and help spread the word far and wide so this kind and brave bunch can drum up as much support as possible.
For any fellow ‘Strictly‘ fans out there, new pro dancer, Gorka Marquez, will be doing the event too. Personally, I’d love to see the boys try to quickstep across the slippery finish line!
Sarah Donnelly, Vice Chair, Renewable World