I'm running the London Marathon to raise money for Carriers of Hope. A charity I truly admire. It supports refugees and asylum seekers living in Coventry, support that they really really need.

Carriers Of Hope Coventry | The Big Give

I was working for Coventry City Council over ten years ago when a colleague, Sue, was shocked at how some asylum seekers at her church were supported by the government. At the time there was very little support apart from a strange shopping voucher, which could only be spent on certain items in the supermarket. Living here as an asylum seeker or refugee was truly horrendous.

Sue could have just talked about how bad it was and not done anything, but that's not really Sue's style. I remember one of the first things she did was to find like-minded people who would be willing to buy the food vouchers at face value, replacing it with real cash so that the refugees/asylum seekers could afford actual items they needed, until eventually she set up a proper charity. Carriers of Hope.

Originally the charity used to prepare carrier bags of useful items that every family would need. This is where they got their name "Carriers of Hope". Since then the charity has grown and grown, and I'll write more about what they do in future blog posts.