Race to launch YMCA Norfolk rooms appeal

Four homeless young men and a Police officer will Run for a Room on Sunday May 4 to help YMCA Norfolk launch a £300,000 appeal to furnish 100 rooms in the two new YMCA hostels planned for Norwich.

 

Four residents from YMCA Norfolk will be running in the 10km Bespak Great East Anglia Run 2008 on Sunday May 4 in King’s Lynn. Michael Douglas, Ian Pickering, David Dowling and David Martin will be joined in the race by PC Matthew Spillman who is part of the Safer Neighbourhood Team at Bethel Street Police Station, Norwich.

 

Each of the five Team YMCA runners is seeking sponsorship in aid of the new YMCA city-centre accommodation in Norwich. Money raised will go towards the £3,000 needed to sponsor one room and local businesses and churches will also be asked to consider adopting a room each. Each sponsored room will have a door plaque indicating who the sponsor is. 

 

The first room, to be sponsored by the runners, will be unique, as it will be dedicated to the memory of Paul Harrison, a YMCA volunteer who tragically died in a motorbike accident in 2007. The plaque will also acknowledge the much valued work of all YMCA Norfolk volunteers, past and present. Paul’s widow Ellie welcomed the scheme and said she, her son Zacci and Paul’s parents were really pleased that a room will be named in memory of her late husband

 

One of the runners, Ian Pickering, who ran in last year’s Great East Anglia Run, said: “I’ll be running for a good cause and it’s an incentive to get fit.  I have recently given up smoking.”

 

Michael Douglas who is also running said: “Although none of us will benefit from the new YMCA accommodation, we are very happy to help raise as much as we can towards the room. The YMCA has helped us all and it is our turn to give something back.”   

 

YMCA Norfolk is offering individual members of the public the opportunity to part-sponsor the first room. The Paul Harrison Room Appeal allows those who are unable to fully sponsor a room, but who would like to make a donation, the chance to invest in a room for a homeless young person. Any donations from individuals can be sent to The Paul Harrison Room Appeal, c/o Nick Nundy, Finance Manager, 48 St Giles Street, Norwich, NR2 1LP. Please make donations payable to: YMCA Norfolk.

 

YMCA Norfolk chief executive officer, John Drake, said: “We are hoping that further sponsorship for up to 100 rooms will come from local businesses and churches right across Norfolk. The rooms include 74 bedrooms, plus training rooms, kitchens and offices. It is a great opportunity for local groups to make a real difference and help homeless young people in our county.”

 

The 10k Great East Anglia Run takes place on a one-lap course around the centre of King’s Lynn and is organized by the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. It is a fast, flat single lap course winding its way through historic King's Lynn starting and finishing in the town centre's Tuesday Market Place. 

 

 

www.greateastangliarun.co.uk