Panda Giving: Our 10K walk for Shelter

As part of our latest ‘Panda Giving’ outing, we took part in the 10k ‘Sleepwalk’ in aid of Shelter. It really was a fantastic evening, especially seeing so many people come together to help at such an important time of the year.

What do Shelter do?

Shelter have been around since 1966, and they believe every person deserves a home. They offer housing advice, support and legal services to those in bad housing, those faced with homelessness and those who are already homeless.

Offering face to face advice, a national helpline and legal support, they work tirelessly so that one day, no one will have to turn to them for advice. To give you visibility on what they do with donations, for every £1 you give, 79% is spent on helping people directly while the rest is spent on fundraising activities. We believe in this cause, and believe they deserve the support. Please do visit their website to learn more and learn how you can support.

What happened on the walk?

Have you ever thought how much you miss in your everyday rush? Every panda agreed that this walk gave us the chance to stroll through London, discover hidden gems and see the sights we know so well on a winter’s night. It was pretty epic!

Our route started at the vaults of Waterloo, and here’s a breakdown of each checkpoint…

• 1k: The London Eye (getting to walk across Westminster Bridge while admiring the lights of the London Eye was a highlight)
• 2k: Covent Garden (before reaching the Christmas markets here, we walked through a very busy Trafalgar Square…it was almost like a rave!)
• 3k – 4k: Walking past the Royal Opera house and down Fleet Street before reaching St Paul’s Cathedral (the bells were loudly ringing as if to cheer us on!)
• 5k – 7k: We marched on and eventually came to Tower Bridge, before continuing along the riverbank.
• 8k-10k: We were almost there – passing Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, Millenium Bridge and many delicious smelling food stalls (which we desperately wanted to stop at!)

We reached the finish line, with slightly sore legs…which we hadn’t anticipated. However, it was all worth it and it’s safe to say we slept well that night.

How much did we raise?

When we signed up to take part, the team goal was to raise £800. As of today (5^th December, two days after the walk) our total sits at £1,887! To say we smashed the target is an understatement, and we all want to say a huge thank you to family, friends and panda supporters who all contributed.

You can find our main page here to find out the final total: The panda Just Giving page

Catch up on all the cranberry panda news

Next stop, Tough Mudder? We shall see…

To find out more about life at cranberry panda, and to enquire about joining the team, click below to explore panda life!