Team stepping up to help to provide 30 beds to local children in the run-up to Christmas

A team of eight runners have been stepping up training ahead of a charity 10K race to help to support children throughout North Staffordshire who do not have a bed of their own.

‘Beds for Kids’ is a campaign which was launched in 2022, by charity Emmaus North Staffs following increasing demand from local families who could not afford basic furniture for their homes.

In the last 12 months the charity have provided around 300 beds to families - some of which were brand new bed kits that included a bed, mattress and bedding.

Each new bed kit comes at a cost of approximately £175 and funds raised from the Alton Towers 10K race - which takes place on Saturday 11 November - will go towards the Beds for Kids campaign.

John Webbe, Executive Lead for Emmaus North Staffs, said: “We have a great team who have all been doing their very best to prepare for the race and to raise awareness for the charity - which has been incredible.

“Myself, I hadn’t taken part in any kind of running for more than 10 years, but in recent months I have been setting the alarm clock really early and been going out running at 5am most mornings to increase my training and I know others taking part have too.”

John added: “We do donate beds all year round to families and we launched Beds for Kids last year because we were seeing a huge increase in requests for support to provide beds for young children.

“No child should be without a bed and we will do all we can to support as many local families as we can.

“We have set a target of £5,000 and if we can reach this it means we will be able to provide around 30 full bed kits - which would be amazing to do.”

The Emmaus North Staffs team includes local businesses such as; Helen Bancroft-Morris Director of HBM Telemarketing, Matthew Tolley, Director of Hayo Energy, Nick Pilgrim, owner of video production company CineRobota, and Sonya Farrall of PR & Media firm BabaBaboon who will be joining Executive Lead of Emmaus North Staffs, John Webbe, Trustee of Emmaus North Staffs and Managing Director of CRC Evans, Paul McShane, along with friends of the charity Jason Farrall and Vanessa van Bergen for the race.

As well as the Beds for Kids campaign, Emmaus North Staffs support more than 800 local households each year. The charity has a large store in the Potteries Centre, in Hanley as well as a Furniture and Home Charity Emporium, which is located in Etruria.

To support the runners in the Alton Towers 10k Race on Saturday 11 November, and to learn more about the Beds for Kids campaign, please follow this Just Giving link - https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bedsforkids