Can you explain the context in which this 24 hour run against homelessness has come about?

Charlie:

“It started in Manchester about 8 years ago, or 7 years ago, so a friend of mine called Tom, who’s from Hereford, was at Uni up there. He was a President of the run club, and they were doing a lot of late-night, late evening runs. Homelessness was visible, and quite prevalent at the time.

They got thinking what can we do about this? Ultimately creating the first Manchester 24-hour run against homelessness. It’s something that has got bigger every year. This run has expanded to new places as well, so last year there were events in Birmingham, Sheffield, and Hereford, so it was the first Hereford event last year. And then this year expanding to Liverpool as well. And they’re all plans for more cities. [Vennture] raised £3,000 pounds in the first year to [an estimate of] £80,000 last year, so it’s really exploded from where it started out. The idea of the event is, it’s like a 5-kilometre lap around the city centre in a relay style, so one group will run the lap together, and then when they get back, the next group will leave, and that carries on for 24 hours. Running it all, all the times at night, you know, if you’re doing it at 3 a.m., you’re feeling how cold it is. You’re sort of appreciating a little bit what something has to go through all their lives, not just on one night, doing a run.

The Mayor is coming along to start the events off. [She will] do a little speech and then she’s going to join us for the first walking lap as well, so anyone wants to come [and hear her speech] at noon on Saturday 19 September.”

How can people get involved? Can they just turn up?

Charlie

“Yeah, so people can just turn up if they want to and run one lap, walk one lap, you know, run 20 laps if they want to. It starts and ends at Vennture’s headquarters.

So, [there’s] a base there to refuel, grab snacks and chat to people. And so, you can just turn up on the day. But if you want to look at a group thing as well, get a team together, we’ve got local running clubs doing, entering teams, a couple of businesses or churches. [You can send] a group to walk a lap together or [turn up as an individual.] It’s all run by volunteers. It’s people from [Herefordshire] or from Manchester who just are insane about running or want to help.

If people want to sign up, when’s the deadline?

Charlie

“If it’s for a big group, maybe 48 hours’ notice, because then we can just make sure we have enough run leaders to, to look after them, to accommodate. But we will have people there the whole time, so it’s more just so we can manage our resources, and we’re not sending people out doing too many laps early on when they’re going to be needed later. If you’re an individual who wants to take part, turn up when you want to!”

“Is there a specific reason why this amount was chosen? Is that linked to the resources that the money will be poured into eventually? Is there any reason as to why it’s £7,500?”

Charlie

“Yeah, not specific as that. It’s more just we raised £7,000 last year, and we want to beat last year!

“What’s the money going towards? And how much does it cross over with [Vennture’s] different pathways? How does it link in family link workers, how does it link in with BRAVE? How does it link in with BrightPath and all the other pathways?”

Esme

“So Vennture works multi-agency, so we end up [heading in the direction we get our referrals from.]  [Our colleagues regularly walk] around the street, and if he sees somebody that needs some support there and then, he’s more than happy to pick them up and try to link them up to another service where they could get the support that they need. (Whether it’s mental health or whether it’s just one place to stay for the night.)

Moving on from that, we really do try and work on the whole individual, through our relational mentoring. So, it’s not just we get them a bed for the night. We try and set them on a journey that they can maintain this sort of progress, so they don’t have to resort to going back to the street. So, it really depends. Some people are ready for that journey, and we’re just sort of that key to start it. There’s been so many times that when people think of homeless people, they think of people rough sleeping on the streets, that’s only part of it. There are sofa surfers, there’s the hidden homeless. It’s broad and varied, and there’s a lot that people don’t see. And so being able to reach out to those that, if anything, they’re a little bit harder to find and [to get support] because they’re less visible, that one is valuable. But it really is just any money that can go towards [supporting those that are homeless.] We rely on donations and grants , so it’s just helpful to, to put towards that sort of key role in Vennture.”

Is there a limit on the number of runners for each lap?

Charlie

“No, there’s not in theory. You know, if 1,000 people turned up, we might reconsider that! But if it gets sort of too many to be safe to go on the road together, we can split it into two pace groups so walkers and runners will be separate anyway.”

But if we get more than maybe 50 people, we might look at splitting the running groups into two speeds, so it’s a little bit safer when trying to cross roads and go on pavements. We’re not knocking everyone over!

Are there other ways in which people can donate apart from GiveWheel? What other ways can they donate as another option?

Charlie

“So, there will, if they’re there in person on the day, we’ll have some donation buckets around the place. And we’ll probably try and have someone in town as well, but that’s obviously on the day. If anyone wants to get in touch with us, we will find a solution. Even if it’s a case of, you know, going around to someone’s house and picking up a check or something like that, we can find a way to make it work.”

Esmé

“Yeah, I’m more than happy to sort of help and if a church is doing a fundraiser or a collection, I’d be more than happy to turn up and just thank them in person as well, because it’s so generous.”

Charlie

“The plan is to keep it going as long as Vennture are happy to have us and we still got people who want to take part.”

Esmé

“[You can do] walking laps. As will many of my colleagues, some people are going to be bringing their dogs, and we’ll go for a little dog walk on the route. So, we’ll try our best to accommodate in any way possible. I know there’s a couple of colleagues that don’t feel they’d be able to do the five kilometres, so they’re going to stay at the base and help with refreshments. There are loads of ways you can get involved, so it’s just nice to have that community feel and bring everyone together for a great cause.”

Please come and get involved! Whether walking, running or donating, we all need to look after those in our community and help those that are struggling with homelessness!

https://www.the24hourrun.co.uk/events/hereford