Leeds Baby Bank to launch Miles for Smiles fundraising campaign

Leeds Baby Bank is urging people to help them clock up 5,000 miles walking, running or wheeling, and raise £5,000 - enough help 400 babies sleep safely with new mattresses and cots.

The charity, which has helped over 95 families in the last month alone, is asking for people to sign up to walk any distance they choose over August, raising sponsorship and ‘banking’ the miles with the charity.

People can take part as individuals, groups or as part of a corporate challenge. There’ll be opportunities to share progress by joining a community of ‘LBB Milers’ by posting and sharing updates on social media tagged with #MilesforSmilesLeeds.

The aim of the Miles for Smiles fundraising drive is to raise £5,000 for the charity, an amount which could support 200 families with food and formula or provide bundles of toiletries for 500 infants.

Will Munton, charity manager at Leeds Baby Bank, said: “After we have all been couped up at home for so long, so what better way to get out in the summer air and get some steps in than joining our Miles for Smiles campaign? We’d love to see the city get behind this campaign, banking some miles with us and raising some much-needed sponsorship money.

“This challenge is totally flexible so you can fit it round your lifestyle – some people have pledged to run 25k a week, some people to take their dog for a mile walk each day and some to toddle to nursery everyday – it’s a challenge that can be enjoyed by everyone.

“Each month we help around a hundred families who are in need of essential items to ensure that they can live healthily and safely. We supply all sorts of items, from baby clothes, to cots, mattresses, food and nappies. Times have been hard for many families over the last year and it is so important that we can continue our crucial work across the city and so we really appreciate every pound raised.”

Entrants who sign up to the challenge on the Leeds Baby Bank website will receive a goody bag containing a Leeds Baby Bank t-shirt.

Leeds Baby Bank gifts essential baby items to families in crisis. From cots, clothes, prams and pushchairs, the charity’s mission is to ensure no child goes without. Leeds has seen one of the biggest rises in child poverty in Yorkshire and The Humber over the last four years according to research from the End Child Poverty Coalition.

For entry instructions and details please visit: https://leedsbabybank.org/milesforsmilesleeds .

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