Little Molly, 5, walks 56km to raise money for Leeds food banks

Despite being just five years old, Molly has walked a total of 56k - nearly 35 miles - in ten days around her neighbourhood in Rothwell in aid of the Trussell Trust - and has so far raised £660.

The trust supports and runs food banks across the country, including in Leeds, and little Molly was moved to come up with a charity challenge after learning about their work.

Mum Claire said: "At the start of lockdown we talked about doing something for the food banks and we decided to get out and about and do some walking so we combined it with trying to raise some money. Talking about food banks and what they are doing motivated her to get out each day and do these walks.

"The challenge was 50km in ten days and she did just over 56km. She was really excited to have done it."

Molly, a pupil at St Mary's School Catholic Primary School, was spurred on by supportive messages from teachers and friends along the way.

Claire said: "A lot of people were sponsoring her so that helped her to keep going and I told the school about what she was doing and she really liked getting text messages from her teacher and her headteacher. She's had a lot of her school friends messaging saying 'well done'. It was a bit of a pick-me-up."

Both Molly and her mum are amazed by the total raised and are thinking of ways to say thank you to everyone.

Claire said: "We couldn't believe how it took off. I messaged someone from the Trussell Trust to explain what Molly had done and they said after lockdown that we can come and visit them and see what they do."

To donate to Molly's fundraising page visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ClaireBeelby.

For more information on the Trussell Trust, visit https://www.trusselltrust.org.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. These are challenging times but the team at the Yorkshire Evening Post need your support more than ever in the weeks ahead.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty. So the support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with the city you live in during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes - from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this and your continued support to the YEP will help to protect its viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk/YEP, email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004.

Thank you

Laura Collins

Editor