We arrived in Cornwall safe and sound after 69 days or approx. 1,600 km of walking. This makes us very happy.
We were able to visit the children's hospice in St Austell. It was a very impressive visit.
And we have reached our first donation target reached. So far, a total of more than CHF 50,000 has been donated. A great success. Thank you very much!
After 69 days at the finish...
We arrived in Perranporth on the Atlantic coast after just 69 days, 2 weeks earlier than planned.
We have experienced a lot. We met a lot of people. We walked for hours through lonely landscapes. We pushed our buggy for about 400 hours through 3 countries. For the most part, we had ideal hiking weather - ok, it was a bit chilly at the beginning. We were fit and never had sore muscles. We are therefore very grateful that everything went so well.
That's why we ended up taking a week's vacation by the sea. However, we couldn't do without walking, the coastal landscape was too beautiful.
On Tuesday, June 11, 2024, it was time to travel back again.
Visit to the children's hospice "Little Harbour" in St Austell / Cornwall
On our walk in England between Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, we also promoted the children's hospice in Cornwall and collected money via the English donation platform "JustGiving".
In retrospect, it was a stroke of luck: many people approached us about our fundraising run, most of them knew the purpose of children's hospices, many of them knew children's hospices from their own family environment with children diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses, and many of them donated spontaneously. In the end it was exactly £1,000 plus a contribution of around 20% from the state (in Germany you can deduct the donations from your tax return; in England the tax is deducted directly from your salary, hence the additional 20%). In total, around CHF 1,500, simply collected on the side. The donation platform "JustGiving" was particularly helpful here, because it is simple and known as the donation platform in England - we should actually have something similar in Switzerland.
On 11.6.2024, shortly before our return journey, we visited the "Little Harbour" children's hospice in St Austell. We wanted to get a first-hand impression of how this support and service is provided.
"Little Harbour" was not small at all; it is a modern building complex with around 36,000m2 of land, donated by a local farmer.
Little Harbor...
- Is the third hospice set up by Children's Hospice South West (CHSW). It currently supports more than 130 children, young people and their families from across Cornwall and Plymouth,
- offers children and young people with life-limiting illnesses the opportunity to recover there and receive palliative medical care,
- has a special team to support siblings, and
- offers emotional and practical help - before and after death.
Little Harbour is a happy and welcoming place in a beautiful setting. Here, families can relax, spend quality time together and create special memories - all while receiving expert medical care.
The hospice costs around £3 million a year to run. 90% of this is voluntary donations and fundraising in the local and regional community.
As a thank you for the charity run in the South West of England, I received a wooden medal: "I helped raise smiles for children's hospice SOUTH WEST". We were very happy to do this. For me, this visit was impressive and deeply moving.
Donation target reached
Our fundraising target of CHF 50,000 was ambitious. Thanks to many small and large donations achieved in mid-June:
- The Seegräben Trade Association or rather Daniela Frangi, has organized via "local heroes of the Raiffeisenbank" collected almost CHF 20,000.
- Just over CHF 30,000 was raised through direct donations and via Twint.
A big thank you to all of them.
Special thanks go to Daniela Frangi from the Seegräben Trade AssociationNicola Presti from the Foundation Children's Hospice Schweizand Florentin Züst for the two video clips, the homepage and the support behind the scenes.