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Walking for Life. Walking to make a difference.
On June 16th 2013 I will be taking part in the Terrence Higgins Trust‘s ‘Walk For Life’. The aim of the walk is to raise vital funds for the HIV Hardship Fund.
Imagine for a moment that you’re HIV positive (if you’re not already), you’ve got plenty on your plate to deal with as it is right? Now imagine you can’t afford to feed yourself, your family, keep a roof over your head or afford warm clothing for the winter. Things are bad with the economy right now, most of us are feeling the pinch – but it’s those who are already in a bad situation who are hit hardest at times like these.
When I was out of work, was forced to move back home and at the same time dealing with my HIV diagnosis I felt like I had few people to turn to and even fewer options to take. The Terrence Higgins Trust gave me a helping hand with its HIV Hardship Fund and their counsellors threw me a lifeline via MyHIV.org.uk – so taking part in this event is the least I can do.
Please give what you can, every penny you donate will go to helping those living in crisis with HIV up and down the UK. There are no overheads being taken from your donations, as those are covered by the registration fees paid by walkers like myself. If you’re a UK tax-payer please remember to click the ‘GiftAid’ box too and the Terrence Higgins Trust can claim back 25p for every £1 you donate. Thank you.
You can donate by following this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ukpositivelad
Everyone who sponsors will get a shout out and a follow back on Twitter, and those who donate £50 or more will get a hand written thank you card from myself as a sign of my gratitude for doing such an amazing thing for others 
All my love,
Tom
UKPositiveLad
Be a hero, Walk for Life
Happy Monday one and all,
I trust you all had a pleasant weekend, made the most of the sun, maybe even had a BBQ? I didn’t, I spent it in agony with a broken tooth – but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
In just a few days I’ll be taking part in the THT Walk for Life. A 10-kilometer sponsored walk around London to raise funds for the THT, the UK’s leading HIV charity.
The Walk for Life started with Crusaid a HIV charity set up in 1986. The 2008 Walk for Life was the biggest HIV/AIDS walk in Europe to date. In 2010 Crusaid merged with THT, and the Walk for Life became the THT Walk for Life, continuing Crusaid’s legacy.
My first Walk for Life was in 2010, and I still have the medal proudly hung in my bedroom. I planned to attend the 2011 walk too but was unable to due to a serious injury. There were over a thousand walkers last year, from every walk of life (see what I did there?) all giving their time – and their money to help those living with HIV.
Every penny of the money raised goes into the THT Hardship Fund. With this fund THT can issue grants to those, living with HIV, who need it most. Speaking to Genevieve Edwards (Exec Director for Communications, Fundraising & Health Improvement) at THT earlier she explained that, in this period of economic gloom, the hardship fund was more important than ever. Food for the unemployed, baby clothes for struggling HIV+ parents, respite care for the terminally ill. The THT wants to help them all, but can only do so with your support.
It’s not too late to register for the event, you can do so at www.walkforlife.co.uk, you can do so up to the night before the walk.
If you can’t make the event, for whatever reason, please please please, sponsor someone who is walking, every pound you donate makes a real and tangiable difference to someone in crisis. If you’d like to sponsor me you can do so here: http://fundraising.tht.org.uk/ukpl-w4l
Photo copyright Steve Punter, demotix.com
Don’t mention the HIV!
To rip off a rather famous Fawlty Towers quote: “Don’t mention the HIV!”.
This is how I’m feeling attempting to fund-raise for the THT WalkForLife, and about HIV/sexual health in general.
In the real world people seem incredibly uncomfortable talking about sex, let alone sexual health and HIV, often resorting to jokes and then rapidly changing the subject. I had hoped that Twitter might have been different, but I’m increasingly being proven wrong. People seem happy to chatter on about reality TV, post pictures of cats in boxes and Lady Gaga videos but dare mention HIV and they clam up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to LOLcats and the Gaga, they definitely have their place on twitter – but so should important and meaningful content.
As I’ve mentioned I’m busy fund-raising for the THT WalkForLife, a event that raises essential funds for a great HIV charity. I’ve tweeted dozens of celebrities (gay and straight) as well as numerous organisations asking for their support – both in sponsorship and retweets, only two have retweeted me so far.
They seem happy to re-tweet appeals for sponsorship for cancer, or birthday wishes – but I’ve not seen a single re-tweet (of mine, or anyone else’s) about HIV. Is one click on the re-tweet button too much effort? Do they think they’re going to scare away their hundreds of thousands of followers with a single tweet about a HIV charity? I’m finding it frustrating beyond words. That one click could generate hundreds of pounds of much needed revenue for a very worthy cause.
So far, over the 12 days that I have been fund-raising 13 awesome people have donated an amazing £440.
But that’s 13 out of 1,356 followers. If everybody donated £1 that would be £1,356 I’d raised, if everyone donated £5 that would total £6,780 for THT.
Please, whether you’re a celebrity or a normal minion like me donate what you can – I’ve already paid my £15 registration and my train fares to London, and click that RT button. It’s free. It’s instant and it can help those people who need THT‘s support.
My Sponsorship page
Thank you.
Sam
UKPositiveLad
THT Walk for Life – Sponsor me!
Good afternoon boys and girls,
In 31 days time I’ll be taking on the THT Walk for Life 2012. A 10km trek around London to raise money for the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The Terrence Higgins Trust is an amazing charity that provides support and information to those living with HIV in the UK, as well as their prevention and awareness work. They’ve helped me out in some of my darkest hours with their online and telephone counselling – I really don’t know where I’d be today without them.
They also run the ground-breaking site MyHIV.org.uk which provides both advice and a meeting place for those living with HIV in the UK. Already there are over a thousand people on the forums, and regular coffee afternoons spawning all over the country. It’s almost impossible to write down everything they do here, but needless to say they do a lot – and THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT.
Please sponsor me for the THT 10k Walk for Life, every pound will help someone in some way. Be it their hardship fund providing assistance to those living in poverty with HIV or hiring more counsellors to talk to those desperately in need.
You can find my sponsorship page here: http://fundraising.tht.org.uk/UKPositiveLad
Please give generously, please give what you can.
All my love and gratitude,
Sam
UKPositiveLad
THT Walk for Life 2012