Allan’s story

Allan regularly volunteers at street collections and other fundraising events. Here is his volunteering story.

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The reason I got involved with Challengers initially is because I wanted to do a fundraising challenge. When I was thinking about this, I was walking down the road in Farnham and thought – I need a bit more of a challenge – and I’d thought about raising money, but who to give it to? Then out of the blue, a girl walked past me wearing a Challengers t-shirt!

So I sent an email to Challengers, who kindly helped me set up a 12-mile walking fundraiser and gave me my very own orange t-shirt to wear. The Fundraising team invited me in for a cup of tea and to see the Playcentre in Guildford, and asked whether I would like to volunteer to help. The answer, of course, was yes!

Through my volunteering I’ve been to different places and met lots of new people.

I also have a disability, with a speech and language problem and learning difficulties. When I was younger I had no friends and nowhere fun to go to meet other people like me, so I stayed in my bedroom after college. If I’d have known Challengers was around in those days, I could have joined them.

Now I enjoy helping the team to raise money for disabled children, so they have somewhere to go at the weekends and during school holidays, and they don’t have to stay in their bedrooms like I did.

Could you be our next volunteering hero?

Take a look at our volunteering page to find out more about how you can support Challengers.