Thank you for visiting my fundraising page. Earlier this year my friend ‘s teenage son, Rhys passed away suddenly. I cannot imagine the heartache he and the other members of the Gillard family and close friends experienced. It’s every parent's worst nightmare. Naturally, friends, family and the wider community all stepped up to provide support in any way. The charity I am raising funds for, The Compassionate Friends Victoria (TCFV) are providing invaluable support to the Gillard family through their deep grief. It’s for this reason, I’m asking you to give any amount you can spare for this worthy organisation. Following the death of a child, sibling or grandchild, at any age and any cause, TCFV offers support to help them to grieve, find healing and grow through their journey of pain. These are delivered by volunteers and staff who are themselves bereaved but further along in managing their grief and therefore able to understand and help in the grieving needs of others. They are trained and supported to run a range of grief and wellbeing services including support groups, 24/7/365 phone support, online sibling chats etc. $30 covers the cost of sending out 8 anniversary cards to bereaved families to let them know that their loved one is not forgotten. $50 helps a new bereaved family receive complimentary grief support services for a year $100 provides an art therapy session for 8 $1500 provides advanced training for 4 volunteers delivering bereavement support. I’ve been training for weeks and already clocked up almost 500kms. Now I just have to avoid getting COVID before this Sunday and hope the forecasted hot weather is wrong. This will be my 10th marathon. Possibly the last… Thanks again for your support.