The founder of Christians Against Poverty, John Kirkby, is presently engaged in a ‘marathon’ endeavour to raise money and awareness around the plight of the poor.
Starting on Tuesday, Kirkby plans to run 15 marathons in 15 consecutive days. The first marathon is in Edinburgh, followed by runs in Newcastle, Nottingham, London and Bradford, before Kirkby jets off to Australia for five more marathons, and then to New Zealand for the last five.
Kirby’s marathon effort has already raised close on £300,000 in donations but he is hoping to break the £500,000 barrier by the last marathon.
“I'm doing this run to remind us all that no matter how bad things get for the majority of us, they are so much harder for people living with real poverty,” said Kirkby, who founded CAP 15 years ago.
“When you haven't got a lot to start with, it takes very little to throw your finances into crisis and it is up to all of us to make sure that even when times are hard, we don't give up helping those who struggle to achieve the most basic standard of living.”
CAP presently runs a network of 190 debt help centres in the United Kingdom carrying £71 million of clients' secondary debts. CAP provides debt counselling through local churches and also opened new centres in 37 different locations last month.
CAP’s CEO Matt Barlow said: “Our experience shows that there will be people in each of these areas who think there is no hope and in fact, our research shows most people wait to get debt help because they don't think there is any available. Creditors will be ringing all day, the letters will be piling up and their sleep, health and relationships will all be suffering.
“The fantastic news is that due to the commitment of their local church, we will be able to support each client by seeing them in their own home, contacting their creditors on their behalf, setting them a budget and staying with them until they are debt free.”
You can follow John's progress at www.cap15.org