We hope these difficult times find you all safe and well. As your ward councillors, we have been doing all we can to support those in our community most affected by the Covid-19 crisis. We’ve been working with the Hanover and Elm Grove Communities Forum to support those in our ward who need help most during this difficult time. We are happy to say that a total of £1,355 has been raised so far via the Crowdfunder appeal. We’d like to say a big thanks to everyone who has contributed, as it will make a massive difference.
The money raised will go to our community’s two volunteer-run food hubs and it will be spent on food parcels, which will be delivered to everyone in our community who is short of food. We plan to use some of the money we raise to establish a community co-op, a non-profit, local ‘supermarket’, which will allow people on low incomes to buy high quality food at a fraction of the usual price. Every penny we raise will be matched by a fund held by the Communities Forum, up to a total of £5,000. This means that if the Crowdfunder appeal raises £5,000 we will have £10,000 to spend, and this could go a long way.
In order for this to happen, we are giving the Crowdfunder a big push before it ends at the beginning of June in the hope of getting as close as we can to the magic £5,000. And this is why we’re launching The Hanover and Elm Grove lockdown running challenge.
How many k can you run in a day?
If you enjoy running and would like to help – while improving your health – we’d love you to take part.
It will work like this:
- Decide how many kilometres you’d like to run daily, and over how many days. For example, you may choose to run 3km a day and you could do this over 3, 5, 10 days. In fact, any number of kilometers or days is fine – within reason.
- Ask your friends and family to pledge money for completing the challenge. We can provide a sponsorship form, to help you collect details of your sponsors and their pledges. (Contact Cllr Elaine Hills, see below.)
- When you reach the end of your running schedule, collect the money from those who have sponsored you, and transfer it into the Crowdfunder: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/communities-forum-covid-19-hardship-fund (Alternatively, share the link so your sponsors can transfer the sponsorship money directly.)
- You can take the challenge alone or with a member of your household, in accordance with lockdown social distancing guidelines.
Councillors on the run
Two of us have decided to take up the challenge. If you would like to support the appeal but prefer not to run, we’d really appreciate it if you could sponsor us.
Cllr Elaine Hills plans to run 7 km in 7 days
To sponsor her, drop her an email and tell her how much you wish to pledge: Elaine.Hills@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Cllr David Gibson is running 10km over 10 days
To sponsor him, email him your pledge amount: David.Gibson@brighton-hove.gov.uk
While not running, our third Green ward councillor, Steph Powell, is supporting us every step of the way. Please contact her if you have any other ideas of ways to help raise money for the appeal: steph.powell@brighton-hove.gov.uk. It would be great to get as many people as possible taking up the challenge and getting fitter while raising money. And we would really appreciate it if you could sponsor Elaine or David.
We very much appreciate any help you can give us in our quest to raise as much money as possible to alleviate hardship for those in our community most affected by Covid-19 in our community.
Very best wishes,
COMMUNITIES FORUM 