Cycling to support families affected by Covid-19

07 Oct Cycling to support families affected by Covid-19

NetworkIN Team Friday advocate Josie Humphries pushed her pedal power to the limit for Tour de Alice this summer.

Biking to boost donations

Tour de Alice gave families, individuals and work colleagues the opportunity to take on the challenge of riding up to 2,156 miles in their own time to coincide with the annual Tour de France bicycle grand tour.

The Alice Charity initiative allowed participants to clock up the miles at their own pace between 29 August and 20 September 2020 whilst raising valuable funds to support local families in need.

Every day for 21 days, Josie climbed onto her exercise bike at home to cycle ten miles for two reasons: to shed a few pounds and improve her mental and physical wellbeing, and to help spread love and kindness to families in Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

“NetworkIN is life ChangeIN”

“I have only been networking for just over 20 months and in all that time it has been NetworkIn advocates who have helped me to grow as a sole trader, as an employee, and helped me personally in so many ways.

“I never imagined the brilliant success we would achieve with the Tour de Alice. I have lots of faith and passion but in these crazy new times the ask was always a difficult one. All of my advocates help when they can, if they can, and should they want to and that’s just the way it should be. Supporting my advocates back is an absolute joy and building on that is even better.” Josie Humphreys, Alice Charity.

Pedalling facts to date

• £13,798 funds raised at the time of publishing this article
• 17,097 miles cycled
• 615 donations

Fellow NetworkIN advocates supported Josie by donning Lycra for outdoor riding or indoor exercise biking to support the cause including:

• Sarah White (6^th on the fundraising leader board) raised £545 in less than two days by two cycling visits to Josie’s house
• Chris Young (6^th on the fundraising leader board) raised £844 (£1055 in total with some money donated to a local Rotary Club)
• Charlotte Foster
• Helena Davies

“I was overwhelmed by Chris’s commitment … and by gum did he take part whole heartedly.”

“It was equally humbling that Helena offered as she had so much going on in her life and she really did take herself out of her comfort zone in that moment. a true star and incredible supporter.”

A noteworthy fundraiser is Tim Hames (4^th on the leader board), the husband of Donna Hames from NetworkIN Cheadle and Stoke Friday, who raised £908 cycling on his hand cycle.

“The fact that Tim chose to support our charity was humbling and the passion that he threw into each day of the tour was inspiring. His kindness and generosity overwhelmed me (Donna already had a special place in my heart) When Ben [his son] added to his dad’s donations following his grandma’s inheritance I was just in tears.”

19 per cent of the total money raised at the point of writing this article has been by NetworkIN advocates proving the camaraderie of the referral marketing community and its combined support from charity advocates.

Watch Sarah and Josie get on their bikes for the Stoke Friday meeting

The difference your money makes

The past six months have affected everyone but in very different ways. The pandemic has exposed and extended existing inequality, vulnerability, and hardship. Low income families and those who rely on financial and social support that schools and local food benefactors provide have suffered immense additional strain.

During this period, Alice charity continued to help local families impacted by the coronavirus fallout with food parcels, wellbeing phone calls and the provision of essential equipment, sundries and clothing.

Now that lockdown restrictions are easing, the Alice team is able to increase support options and get back out into the community.

There’s still time to join the campaign and support vulnerable families by donating to Tour de Alice