How We Celebrated Completing the Go the Distance Challenge and Other Revelations

After finishing a month of walking, cycling, running, swimming, paddle boarding, etc. for our Go the Distance challenge, it was time to sit back and celebrate this amazing achievement.

On the event that drew the challenge to a close, Connie, one of our Volunteer Coordinators revealed the final numbers: the No.1 team completed more than 1404 miles and managed to raise more than £1400! That is the equivalent of someone walking from Glasgow to Madrid.

100,000 metres

Hayley Argyle, our Fundraising Volunteer who was the mastermind behind the challenge explained that during her volunteer training, she heard the number 100,000, which is an estimate of how many people live in Scotland who are completely isolated, and this number got stuck in her mind. That’s what inspired her to create the Go the Distance Challenge that was all about travelling 100,000 meters, or 100 kilometres or 62 miles in the month of July.

Quiz and Raffle

Apart from a surprisingly difficult musical and general knowledge quiz put together by another No.1 fundraising volunteer, Hayley N., it was also time for a raffle with amazing donated prizes. Those who signed up to our challenge were automatically given a raffle ticket, but you could also enter by liking and sharing our posts on Facebook.

The prizes were:

Cupcakes baked Hayley A, one of our wonderful volunteers.

A set of scented wax melts from Anne Skeene

A coffee set from Old Mill Coffee

Some individual jewellery pieces from John McKay Jewellers.

Two individual jumpers (1 Adult and 1 Child) from out Administrator Mathias.

Final thoughts from Audrey

Finally, our Founder and CEO, Audrey thanked everyone for participating and explained a bit about how she got the ‘befriending bug’ and was hoping that the challenge have inspired others who will catch the bug too! It turns out that her dream was not so far-fetched, because one participant, Martin, inspired one of his friends who lives in Tanzania to seek out a befriending opportunity with the Red Cross in her country. That means that our wee challenge travelled through borders and managed to raise awareness of the effects of loneliness and isolation.

Finally, when asked who will continue to walk/run/cycle etc. even after the challenge is completed, most of us said we will. Some will take the month of August off to have a wee rest and continue afterward. So many birds killed with one stone! We are now more committed to fitness, raised awareness of a pressing problem and managed to raise £1400 for a good cause. And all that because a number got stuck in Hayley’s head! Talk about ripple effect…