TWO youth workers from Warrington Youth Club went the extra mile to help young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Head of Youth Work Chris Capstick and Sports Coordinator Chris Mills both walked 100km to raise money that will go towards supporting young people in the town.
The fundraiser, dubbed the 242424 challenge, the equivalent of nearly five marathons between them, was completed inside a blistering 24 hours.
The mammoth fundraising effort was in response to the growing call for additional support for young people and their families in the town.
Warrington Youth Club, which usually sees hundreds of young people aged 7-19 – or up to 25 with additional needs – come through its doors each week, was forced to close following the COVID-19 outbreak.
The pair carried out their trek together, statically and socially distanced, on treadmills at the Youth Club gym inside the Peace Centre in Great Sankey on June 20, exactly three months to the date after lockdown measures were introduced across the country.
During that time, young people have needed support more than ever and staff at the Youth Club have been coming up with innovative ways to respond to this need. From delivering a packed timetable of digital activities over social media to making welfare calls and delivering food parcels.
In total, the 2424 Challenge aims to raise £2,400 which will go towards supplying young people and their families with hygiene packages and activity packs which will include toiletries, educational resources and other games and activities.
The need for such packages has increased massively as time has gone by and with the Youth Club being a registered charity, they now need additional funds to meet the requirements.
To raise awareness, the Youth Club also published 24 hours of social media content which will include live streams, activities, challenges and much more for young people to engage with.
Warrington Youth Club is part of the OnSide Youth Zones network and they’ll be supported throughout the day by other Youth Zones across the UK. To keep the ‘24’ theme going, between them the other Youth Zones will walk or run an additional 40km, taking the total to 240km.
Head of Youth Work Chris Capstick said: “The last three months has had a massive effect on everybody across the country. We must not overlook the huge impact it has had on our young people who need our support now more than ever.
“Sadly, the demand for our food parcels and care packages has dramatically risen as the weeks have gone by. The support families need is increasing and the money raised from this will help us reach as many young people as possible in these extremely trying times.
“Chris and I really enjoyed the challenge – it was tough but the pain was worth it!”
They were approaching £1,000 of their £2,400 target as they completed their challenge.
To sponsor Chris and Chris for completing their marathon effort visit: https://tinyurl.com/WYC2424.
22 long hours and it is OVER… hats off to our amazing Sports Coordinator Chris Mills on completing the #WYC24. What a monumental effort walking 100km all for Warrington’s young people and their families.
You can donate by clicking here 👉 https://t.co/dzVJX5Oypn pic.twitter.com/4JLt8e2YkK— Warrington Youth Club – an OnSide Youth Zone (@WYC_official) June 21, 2020
The final countdown – 2km to go!
We’ll be going live on Facebook and Instagram for the last stretch v soon – make sure you tune in!
Donate here 👉 https://t.co/PAMmQ0nSFJ pic.twitter.com/mmpgFh2grh— Warrington Youth Club – an OnSide Youth Zone (@WYC_official) June 21, 2020
The boys are off on their #WYC24 challenge!
Chris and Chris are walking/ running/ jogging 100km EACH over the next 24 hours at Junction gym. They're raising funds to go to help young people and their families in #Warrington
To sponsor them, click here 👉 https://t.co/dzVJX5Oypn pic.twitter.com/kQFmu1DrR1— Warrington Youth Club – an OnSide Youth Zone (@WYC_official) June 20, 2020
