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Meet John… our real-life superhero! 

John is the Head of New Business here at Connect. When he’s not spending his time showing nursery teams how to improve their efficiencies, he’s helping to make children’s wishes come true.

Outside of work, John is a devoted dad of two, a part-time footballer, and an avid runner.

And in the past 18 months, on top of all that, he’s somehow found the time to raise over £4,000 for the Make a Wish Foundation. He’s a wish hero!

John has taken part in all sorts of fundraising challenges:

• He gathered support from 18 amazing local businesses who each ‘sponsored a star’ on his running vest.
• He held a ‘Charity Bonanza’ event which raised money for both Make a Wish UK and Children with Cancer UK.
• He completed the virtual Great North Run.
• He also braved the shave and donated his luscious locks to the little princess trust, a charity which makes wigs for children.

John’s next crazy challenge is taking place this Sunday. We’ve asked him what it’s all about, and why it’s worth all of this hard work.

Why have you decided to fundraise?

I started running (properly) back in January 2019 just as a hobby, but as you know, I don’t like to do things by halves. As my fitness started to improve, I decided to challenge myself and sign up for the London Marathon. It’s always been one of those things I thought, ‘I’ll do that one day’ and took the plunge and entered. Sadly I was unsuccessful in the general ballot but applied to run for the amazing Make a Wish UK at the same time and was accepted pretty much straight away! Seeing the work that Make a Wish do to provide wishes to poorly children gave me so much motivation to raise as much as I can for a charity that is very close to my heart.

What are you doing to raise money?

The London Marathon was supposed to take place in April, however, this was cancelled due to COVID-19. But this has not stopped us from training and fundraising.

Our upcoming challenge is the virtual 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon which will take place on Sunday 4 October. At the virtual London Marathon, participants will have 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds (from 00:00 to 23:59:59 BST) to complete the 26.2 miles, which we can choose to run, walk or jog – making the event the most inclusive London Marathon ever.

We’re joining 45,000 runners up and down the UK – and across the world. 

We’ll be taking on an epic challenge, instead of ‘just’ running the marathon, we will be running 2.62km on the hour, every hour until the marathon distance is complete. We’ve estimated that this will take us around 16 hours! 

We’re asking for any donations big or small and are also offering local businesses the opportunity to sponsor one of the hours we will be running. 

How will the money you raise help children?

Make a wish grant magical wishes to enrich the lives of children and young people fighting life-threatening conditions. Granting their wish provides seriously ill children with hope for the future, strength to cope and resilience to fight their condition. They’re given quality time away from the daily realities of living with their condition and given the chance to make magical memories they can treasure forever – whatever their future may hold. 

For this fantastic cause, Connect Childcare will be sponsoring John for an hour of his run. All of the team here wish them all of the best of luck and will be virtually cheering him on, on the day.
Follow the Facebook event page to stay up to date and join them live for updates.

You can donate here: