A Thurso man has fallen head over heels for charity as he doubles his fundraising target by completing an epic burpee challenge.
Ken Wilson pledged to do 3,000 burpees during the month of May in aid of charity ShelterBox.
The international charity provides emergency shelter and other essential items to families who have lost their homes to disasters.
Mr Wilson, currently president of Thurso Rotary Club, completed 100 burpees a day in his front garden with the objective of raising £1,000 in support of their work.
To his delight, he has now doubled his initial target, raising £2,012 for ShelterBox through his crowdfunding appeal.
Rising to the challenge
Mr Wilson explained how he wanted to use his love for physical exercise and fundraising to support a good cause.
He said: “I quite like doing physical exercise challenges to raise money normally. I would usually do a £10K or an obstacle course race and without these things available, I was looking for something different to do.
“I did burpees because I thought that they would be pretty tricky. I wanted to do something that I would find really challenging which would also be fairly obvious to people supporting me.
“I have been president of the local rotary club this year so it was something to help mark the end of that as well as being a good way of raising a bit of general awareness about ShelterBox.”
Overcoming the hurdles
Reflecting on his feat, he said the biggest challenge was finding the motivation to keep going.
“I think the biggest challenge was maintaining the discipline to do it,” he added.
“I knew in order to get 3000 in the month I had to be pretty strict about doing them and making sure I got 100 done everyday and didn’t fall behind on my target.
“If I had not been disciplined about it, I probably wouldn’t have managed.
“It was the discipline in making sure I was up in time, ready to get going and organised; the basics were are key to getting the thing done.”
Smashing his fundraising target
Mr Wilson initially set his fundraising target at £500 before being forced to double his target.
The 38-year-old vet has thanked the public for their support in helping to raise more than £2,000 for the charity.
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He said: “In the first week I thought I would raise about £500. I got the £500 fairly quickly so put my target at £1,000, thinking I will go with that, but now its just over £2,000 that I have raised. I’m really pleased; it’s great.
“The support has been the key to the whole thing, particularly the way that people supported me from day one. It’s really helped me keep going.
“When people take you on with something like that and are willing to give to a charity, it really helps you find the motivation to do something that’s outside your comfort zone.”
Supporting the charities manifesto
ShelterBox is working to provide shelter for more than 104 million people around the world who have been displaced by the pandemic.
The charity provides emergency shelter and tools for families robbed of their homes by disaster, to help transform despair into hope.
The club president praised the “amazing” work of the charity and said it was impossible to turn a blind eye; even in light of the pandemic.
He said: “In general they are amazing. The guys are carrying out good work all over the world so it’s nice to be able to help them.
“I think for charity’s like ShelterBox something like the pandemic will have provided a significant challenge, in that it made the logistics of what they do more difficult.
“I think like a lot of charities, people’s attentions have been rightly elsewhere so its maybe been a challenge for these guys both to maintain their work and maintain their fundraising thorough this.
Mr Wilson added: “The kinds of things they are supporting people with – displacement, the refugee crisis, war, natural disasters – none of those things stop because we’ve got Covid-19.
“These things keep going so I think it’s quite important to remember that we while we concentrate on Covid there are other things going on in the world, we can’t just turn a blind eye to it because we happen to be in lockdown.
Vow of thanks
Hollie Clements, community fundraising officer, praised him for his efforts in supporting their fundamental work.
“We are so pleased that Ken set himself the brilliant challenge to do 100 burpees every day throughout May,” she said.
“Ken has so far raised a fantastic £2,012 for ShelterBox, which we are so thankful for.
“We wouldn’t be able to continue working with families who have lost everything to disasters to begin rebuilding their homes and lives, without the support of our inspirational fundraisers like Ken.”