Hey, everyone! As some of you are probably aware, in January I announced that I’m taking on the challenge to swim the English Channel solo in August this year — 5 months to go!
I’ve recently ramped up my training to 25km per week and aiming to get at least two 10km continuous swims in each month. I’m feeling fitter and starting to get a lot stricter with my training and lifestyle. Goodbye social life!
I hope to raise £25,000 for a small UK charity called Dreams Come True. Here’s why I decided to choose this particular charity and what the charity involves:
Dreams Come True is one of the UK’s smallest charities and helps children with life-limiting conditions achieve their dreams. They work hard to enrich the lives of children and young people with serious life-limiting conditions.
I think why this charity hit so close to my heart is the fact that I know I’ve got a lot to be grateful for in my life. At the age of 24, I’ve traveled to more places than most people do in their entire life, had the opportunity to open a business and — one of the best things I’ve ever experienced — studied at Les Roches in Switzerland. As soon as I came across Dreams Come True, it really hit home as to how lucky I’ve been.
As I write here dreaming about completing something as big as swimming the English Channel, I feel there’s a unique link with those less fortunate, who are perhaps dreaming about going to Africa to feed chimpanzees, spending an afternoon at trampoline world or learning how to ride a bike. The link is that no matter what the dream, it provides everyone with something highly positive to focus on — which alone is incredibly empowering!
I think one of the main things that really appealed to me about Dreams Come True is the fact that they’re such a small charity. Before committing to them I wanted to meet with their team and understand how they distribute the money raised. I found out that their marketing budget is next to none because they’d rather spend the money on the kids. They even told me if I raise the £25,000 they’d tell me exactly how many dreams I’ve made into a reality and that I could potentially meet some of the families who have benefited.
Swimming the English Channel will probably be the hardest thing I’ll ever attempt in my life. With all the pain which comes with that, you can probably see why I didn’t want to raise an average amount for a big charity whereby all the money donated would get spent on advertisement.
I’d love to say a big thank you to everyone who’s donated, especially those whom I used to study with at Les Roches. It really shows that the family connection is still there even if we haven’t seen each other for 3 years.
If you’d like to join me on this journey and like to make a donation, anything is appreciated. You can find the link to the fundraising page here:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChannelSoloChris
Thanks,
