Putting our finger on one particular challenge for fundraising has seemed difficult…so we’ve come to the conclusion that our ‘heart sings’ with the number 17, and our ‘heart sings’ when we talk about George to our support community – so we’ll combine the two and get our whole community involved in Change 17 – The Challenges!
We have literally hundreds of ideas for healthy, positive, fun fundraising challenges involving the number 17 – but we can’t do them all at once, and right now, with Covid-19 restrictions, we’re limited!
So, we’ll be releasing our challenges as and when we think it’s appropriate. We’ll start with Challenge 1, then update you as we go.
YOU can get involved with almost all of the challenges yourselves…you could even create your own Change 17 – Challenge!
The Challenges
Challenge 1 – 1.7 millions steps for George
UPDATE: Blimey, this wasn’t easy actually – it’s amazing how hard it is to walk the steps when your in lockdown and working from home. BUT we managed it – in fact we surpassed it with approximately 1.8 million steps! Thank you for your kind donations.
A year on from the 17 weeks that George was growing, we aim to walk 1.7 million steps – to honour our boy, for our own health and wellbeing, and to promote Change 17.
This challenge will run from 21st January 2021 (a year since we first ‘met’ our boy with our positive pregnancy test), to 17th April 2021 (a year on from George’s Birthday). We’ll keep our social media updated with our progress.
Now, broken down between James and I, that fares at 100,000 steps per week – or 50,000 steps each per week.
Doesn’t seem that many when we’re encouraged to walk 10,000 steps per day. However, we’re currently both working at home, and even with a decent walk each day, are averaging 5k steps in the time we can afford. We’d love to smash the goal of 1.7million steps in 17 weeks and complete 1.7million each – but we actually think that the main challenges will be:
Consistency – not just in walking, but in tracking our steps as well.
Time – time away from the dreaded laptop to get out in nature (hopefully during daylight), is a challenge in itself right now.
Weather – we don’t shy away from bad weather, but motivation wise, it plays a part.
So, 1.7 million steps in 17 weeks is the goal.
Would you like to sponsor us? Please donate here.
Would you like to join in? Walk your own 1.7 million steps over 17 weeks (before April 17th 2021)…email ilse@myheartsingshere.co.uk or message us to keep us updated!
Future Challenges still to come:
Some fun options (when the world opens up a bit):
Seventeen challenges we’d like to complete over a long-period of time …will you sponsor us to achieve any of these? Some are big, some are small, some will take us a while, some may be combined, and some will lead to greater things…
- Visit 17 new locations around the UK and Ireland for at least a full day – likely camping in Ovii. (Update: (1) Gwithian, Cornwall (2) Land’s End and Porthcurno (3) Mousehole – for George’s birthday)
- Walk 17 kilometres around the Isle of Barra (Update: see The Hebridean Way here!)
- Train to eventually swim 1.7 miles in the sea
- Grow 17 different fruits and vegetables down at Lottie (the allotment!) (Update: this isn’t enough of a challenge! Forget me nots, calendula, tulips, bluebells, muscari, anemones, broccoli, sprouts, beans…)
- Swim in the sea, every week, for 17 weeks (planning 17 weeks from 24th May 2021 to 24th September – which would have been George’s due date…)
- Grow 17 different types of flowers down at Lottie
- Complete 17 minutes of meditation per day for at least 17 days
- Give 17 hours to voluntary work
- Forage and consume 17 different wild foods (with advice!)
- Gift 17 books that we would recommend
- Run 17 miles in a week
- Catch 17 fish to bbq on the beach – perhaps not all at once…
- Spend 17 minutes per day in nature for at least 17 days (easy peasy…)
- Watch 17 sunsets on Chesil beach
- Stand up 17 times on our surfboards…in the water (haha this may take some time!)
- Learn 17 different yoga/pilates moves and combine them in a flow
- Identify 17 different natural things, with a detail about each one – shells, seaweed, birds, plants and trees
Feel free to join us for any of these challenges – virtually or in person!
Join us with some bigger challenges:
Let’s Go Fly a Kite (Virtual – anytime in 2021)
We’ll be raising awareness for Baby Loss, Cervical Incompetence and for Change 17 by flying kites for George in 2021. Included in this is hopefully learning to kite-surf…
If you’d like to join us in flying a kite (doesn’t have to be kite-surfing – a regular kite will do!), to recognise anyone who has lost a baby or child, and to raise awareness, then fly your kite anytime in 2021…please take a photo or video and send it to us so we can celebrate it!
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17km walk along the Jurassic Coast
It might be wet and windy, but the views will be stunning. This won’t be an easy walk, but it will mean you get to walk part of the South West Coast Path. People joining us can either donate to join, or raise money themselves for our charitable organisations. Choose whether you’ll walk the whole 17km, or any increment of 1.7km. As we’re unsure of lockdown/tier measures, we’ll update you on the date asap.
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Change 17 Supper Club
James LOVES to cook. He will be creating a 17 course (including drinks and canapés) taster menu for anyone wanting to join us down here in Dorset/online. Details to follow!
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Purchase from our Online shop – once it’s up and running
Just little things that have been hand made…watch this space!
