As of late, social media has been filled with red-faced selfies accompanied by the caption, “Run 5, Donate 5, Nominate 5”.
This was started by 27 year old Olivia Strong from Edinburgh.
While running around the streets of Scotland’s capital, using up her daily allowance of exercise, Olivia had a simple idea to raise funds for the NHS to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
This idea was to invite people to run 5 kilometres, donate £5 to the NHS, and then nominate five friends to do the same.
Olivia set up a Virgin Money Giving page to allow people to donate easily to the NHS’s Charities Together. She then began encouraging people to take part on social media.
Her target for the initiative, now dubbed “Run For Heroes”, was to raise £5,000 for the NHS. Since she started the campaign on 28 March, it has raised over £4 million.
With people running more than ever to get some fresh air during lockdown, this challenge has spread across the globe.
Some of the more notable participants in the challenge include John Terry, Chris Moyles and Ellie Goulding.
Giving it a go
People taking part are encouraged to post their nominations on social media to spread the message far and wide. And last week, a friend nominated me.
I’m lucky to live in a place surrounded by great places to run.
The sun was shining when I set off along a tow path just behind my house.
Photograph by Mairi Hughes.
Photograph by Mairi Hughes.
After completing my run, I logged on to the official fundraising page to donate £5. The page has been so busy I had to wait for 20 minutes or so to access it!
I then took to social media to nominate five friends to take part.
Since I completed the run last week, four of the five friends I nominated have now also completed the challenge and donated their £5.
Once friend number five gets a move on, my run and nominations will have raised £30 in total for the NHS.
My five friends have just nominated 25 more people to do the same.
It’s easy to see how this challenge has spread like wildfire and been so successful.
Why not try it today? Whether or not you have been nominated, this challenge is easy to complete and is raising vital funds for our NHS.
If you don’t fancy running you can walk, cycle, skip, hop or jump 5k!
For more from the team, read our blog here.
Click here for more on charities supported by “The People’s Friend”.
