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Baby loss charity launches epic, virtual race to Brisbane

Posted: 1st July 2020

This July, Held in Our Hearts is encouraging family, friends and colleagues to take up the baton and ‘PassTheK’ to reach our neighbours down under in Brisbane, Australia. The charity should have been travelling there for an international conference to share learning about their work and many people would have been travelling abroad at this time of year.

Charity supporters can run, walk cycle or swim as many ‘K’ as they can throughout July and then ‘Pass’ the virtual baton, by tagging a friend on social media to do the same. Collectively, the aim is to travel from Edinburgh to Brisbane, a total of 16,313km.

The charity has run a series of popular and fun virtual challenges through April, May and June, helping to keep their community connected and raise essential funds for their work.

In June, #TheKTeam challenge was set for their running and cycling community, which had supporters seeing how many ‘K’ they could achieve in different teams. Over the month, the charity saw 11 teams ranging in size from a single person to 20 people, travel over 11,500 km.

Nicola Welsh, Chief Executive Officer says of the current situation:

“In a recent survey we did, 67% of families stated the lockdown has had a big impact on the care they have received. We want to continue doing all we can to support them and ensure that they are never alone. As a bereaved parent myself, my heart goes out to all the families that have had to face this nightmare isolated at home, away from close family and friends.

We are committed to supporting bereaved families for the long term. One of the biggest challenges we have increasingly been seeing has been families coping with a pregnancy following a loss. What should be a time of joy and excitement becomes a time fraught with worry and stress that this baby may also die. This is normally an especially anxious time for those families, but with the additional risks from the coronavirus, it is so much worse. We are working hard to provide extra support through our counselling and befriending team to minimise stress for these mothers and their babies and give them as much support as we can.

#PassTheK will help us raise awareness of our work and also generate essential funds for our specialist support services. Bereavement support for families is never more needed, as we are only beginning to see the levels of trauma that families have experienced through lockdown.”

Tracy Watt, Fundraising Manager says:

“Like many charities, we face fewer opportunities to raise much needed funds as many traditional summer and autumn sports and challenge events have been cancelled. We wanted to build on the successes of our other monthly challenges and set a really ambitious campaign for July, both in terms of the distance travelled and hopefully the funds raised too. This month’s challenge is encouraging family, friends and colleagues to take up the baton and ‘PassTheK’ to help us reach our neighbours down under in Brisbane, Australia.”

In order to take part, the charity is asking for a £5 donation and people can also encourage others to donate in support of their challenge. If people prefer they can also just text PASSTHEK to 70085 where they can donate £5 to help our work.

Business Comment

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