Our fantastic Jacari volunteer Stephanie Rodley ran The Big Half, London’s half marathon, in September and raised nearly £600 for Jacari. Steph is a student in her second year at Bristol University. She volunteered as a Jacari tutor last year, supporting a 12 year old girl who uses English as an additional language.

From volunteer to fundraiser

Having volunteered for Jacari for some time, Steph decided she wanted to fundraise for Jacari. She told us: “I really enjoyed tutoring my pupil last year and I could see just how important English classes were for her in improving her language but especially her confidence.”

‍Steph chose The Big Half (the London half marathon) for her fundraising challenge and set up a Just Giving page to collect donations, which would then go directly to Jacari. She shared her Just Giving page on social media and asked friends and family to donate. Sharing her personal experience of tutoring her pupil and the impact Jacari has on the learning and education of refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children encouraged many of her connections to donate.

We supported Steph every step of the way with her fundraiser and gave her tips and advice on how to increase donations. We also shared her fundraiser on our social media before the event and celebrated her success after she completed the half marathon.

A brilliant achievement

Steph completed the Big Half in 2 hours 18 minutes and we’re so proud of her for running on behalf of Jacari.

“It went well! I raised £590 which I was really pleased with because I am aware it is estimated to fund each child, £500 is needed, and so I was thrilled to be able to say that I have been able to fund one child.” _{Stephanie Rodley}

We would love more of our volunteers and supporters to enter similar events and choose Jacari to fundraise for. When we asked Steph for her advice to anyone thinking of doing a fundraising challenge for Jacari, she said “I would tell them to read up on the impact reports Jacari provides, because the stats are just fantastic!” ‍

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