This weekend the Edinburgh Marathon Festival will be run and among those taking part will be a team of 30 Big Hearts runners and Hearts supporters. Big Hearts Community Trust is the official charity of Heart of Midlothian FC and has engaged over 27,000 people across Edinburgh and the Lothians, raising over £1.5M for community projects to date.
The Big Hearts team of runners is hoping to raise over £7,000 to support the most vulnerable Kinship Care families across Edinburgh. The team of 30 will be involved in different races over the Marathon Festival weekend. A third of this target has already been raised by a group of Big Hearts volunteers who set up their own fundraising event when they welcomed over 100 guests to a race night at Hearts new main stand at Tynecastle Park. This event was opened by Ann Budge, Hearts owner and Big Hearts trustee.
Last year, Big Hearts set up the ‘Emergency Essentials Fund’ which raised a five-figure sum to help Kinship Care families buy household items such as cookers, washing machines and children’s beds, essential to families in need in these times of austerity. So far, over 66 families, including 112 children have benefited from this fund.
Caryn Kerr, Big Hearts’ Fundraising and Development Manager said:
“It’s such a fantastic outcome for our first Community Fundraiser set up by Big Hearts Volunteers and we are very grateful for their efforts to make this event a success, all this on top of their personal training for the Edinburgh Marathon Festival.”
“This week Big Hearts is expecting to receive over £7,000 through our Runners’ fundraising efforts. 100% of the donations will go to support some of the most vulnerable Kinship Care families in Edinburgh, via crisis grants delivered by our partner Buttle UK.”
“We created the ‘Emergency Essentials Fund’ as part of our Kinship Care Programme to offer an additional support for those who struggle to purchase essential households items, ensuring Kinship young people and their carers can maintain a comfortable and healthy family life”.
If you are interested in getting involved with such a worthy cause, more information about Big Hearts and the admirable work it does is available here.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
