Local resident Jan Biggs is walking a mile a day in different shoes to raise awareness and fundraise for Samaritans. Grant Shapps, joins her on one of her walks.
Samaritans, the charity aimed at providing support to anyone in emotional distress and struggling to cope or at risk of suicide, is the TCS London Marathon Official Charity of The Year. Instead of running the marathon Jan Biggs, Outreach Lead at Welwyn Hatfield's local Samaritans branch, decided to walk one mile per day in a different pair of shoes each day for 26 days (totalling the distance of a marathon).
Grant joined Jan on one of her mile walks in Woolmer Green on Friday 5 April and Jan offered the following comment:
“I am very grateful to Grant for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to walk a mile with me to discuss and raise the profile of my awareness and fundraising campaign, the basic point being, don’t judge a person before you have walked a mile in their shoes”.
This was very beneficial for both of them and Grant agreed with her that kindness is one of the most important things in life.
Jan is hugely grateful to all those who have joined her on her walks and that more people want to walk with her. She’s now decided to extend her end date to 21st April, which is the date of the TCS London Marathon, as well as doing a walk a week for 26 weeks with anyone who wishes to join her.
Grant commented that he “feel[s] honoured to have had the opportunity to join Jan on one of her walks - it is a fantastic campaign and I wish her all the best with her remaining walks. Having served the constituency for 19 years, I am all too aware of mental health issues in communities and the amazing work Samaritans does to raise awareness and help those in need.”
If you would like to find out more or support Jan’s campaign, follow her campaign on Instagram or visit her JustGiving fundraising page.
For free 24/7 confidential support, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.