Local social care provider Ever-Evolving has gone the extra mile for a cause close to their hearts.
Based in St Helens, Ever-Evolving is a service that supports adults with learning difficulties and additional needs. The team recently took part in the North West Air Ambulance Charity's (NWAA) “100 Miles in March” Facebook Challenge.
They smashed their target with a collective 152 miles completed, raising over £1,000 in the process.
Based near Queens Park in St Helens, the Ever-Evolving team made the most of their surroundings by using the Strava app to plan local routes and track their miles. They discovered that three laps around the park made up a mile.
Naomi Mercer, Lead Support Worker at Ever-Evolving, said: “As soon as we saw the challenge, we knew we had to get involved. We're an inclusive organisation, and we want everybody to be involved in everything we do. The North West Air Ambulance Charity's 100-mile challenge gave everybody the opportunity to do so.
“Ever-Evolving is based right near Queens Park in St Helens, so we got the Strava App on our phones and worked out how many laps a mile was, and it was three laps around the park. So, we would take the service users and do a couple of laps of the park every day.
“One of the service users did 21 miles on holiday, walking her dogs, and another service user raised £200 by walking round the golf club with her dad and adding more miles on.
“NWAA is a charity that is very close to our hearts. My partner was in an accident four years ago and we got the chance to say goodbye to him before he passed away, thanks to the North West Air Ambulance Charity.
“Since then, we’ve held an event each year in memory of Gaz, called Gazjam, and we’ve raised over £16,000 in a few years. The event is like a festival with live music, friends and family all get involved, and we have raffles and auctions too!”
This years Gazjam will take place on 14th of June at Blackbrook Rugby Club in St Helens, all in memory of Gaz Powell, who passed away in 2021.
Rebekah Bullen Calderbank, Events Coordinator at NWAA, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to the team at Ever-Evolving, their commitment to making this challenge inclusive for all their service users is truly inspiring. The money raised will help us continue saving lives across the North West, and we’re so grateful to have supporters like this in our community.”
To find out more about how you can support the North West Air Ambulance Charity, head to https://www.nwairambulance.org.uk/