Supporter Jake is taking on a ‘60 Miles for 60 Smiles’ county-wide cycling challenge to fundraise for us.
Jake Hyland, a Member Representative at Nationwide in Melksham, plans to cycle in a loop past some of the bank’s main branches in Wiltshire to raise money for Julia’s House and Wiltshire Mind.
The 23-year-old hopes to complete the challenge in just five hours during the bank’s opening hours of 9am to 2pm on Friday 30 April to raise £500. His total fundraising figure will be matched by his employer.
Jake said, “I’ll cycle past all of the branches in our cluster group – so I’ll go from Melksham to Devizes, then on to Swindon and Chippenham, before returning back to Melksham again.
“Nationwide has a close connection with Julia’s House and I think it’s such an important cause that should be recognised – they’re caring for some of the most seriously ill children in our local area,” he said.
“I know that it’s been a challenging year for the charity and they rely on fundraising to keep their service going, so I think we should be doing everything we can to help.”
As a member of Chippenham Rugby Club, Jake enjoys keeping active. He said, “I dislocated my shoulder just before lockdown, so I haven’t been out on my bike a lot over the past year. But I’m an active person and enjoy endurance fitness. For my own personal mental health, I find working-out does wonders for me and is really beneficial for my wellbeing.”
Julia’s House fundraising administrator, Nicky Clack, said: “We’re so pleased that Jake has chosen to fundraise for Julia’s House and we’ll be cheering him on as he cycles around Wiltshire. We don’t receive any ongoing government funding to keep our local care going, so our fundraisers really do help to bring a whole lot of smiles to the families of children with life-limiting conditions that we care for.”
Donate to Jake’s fundraising challenge at his Just Giving page.
And if you’re inspired to fundraise for Julia’s House, find out more about how you can support us.
