Tag: balfron 10k

Giving out gifts from the Balfron 10k

Thank you for the donations from the Balfron 10k last year. Some great photos from Malawi. We will be collecting preloved shoes at this year’s event too.

Sarah’s blog 3/3/26

We were at the popular Balfron 10k race last year collecting preloved training shoes to send to the vulnerable people we support in rural northern Malawi. We were given almost 100 pairs of training shoes (children’s and adults) to send. Over the last few days, Levison and team have been giving out gifts from the Balfron 10k event.

There were t-shirts left over from previous races and the organisers kindly gave these to us. As you know, it takes a long time for things to arrive at their destination. However, last week, trainers and other shoes were given out to students at Bright Futures Secondary School and also to staff and volunteers. Everyone was very thankful for these gifts.

Yesterday, staff and volunteers were gifted the Balfron 10k t-shirts. On behalf of everyone who received these gifts, thank you so much. They are delighted to have been thought about. A small gift like a t-shirt means a great deal to the people who are living in extreme poverty.

We are going to be at this year’s Balfron 10K race again on Sunday 3rd May…exactly two months from now. Changing Lives Malawi will again be collecting trainers and other shoes of all sizes (no heels please). We must ask that all footwear is in good CLEAN condition. Would you be still happy to wear them? Do they have holes in the soles? The people receiving your preloved shoes and trainers walk miles every day, so the footwear needs to be functional and clean.

Can you tell your friends and spread the word so that we collect more than 100 pairs this year? There are hundreds of children and adults that we help to support and they would all love a new (to them) pair of shoes. Also, we would be grateful for a donation of £1 per pair of shoes to help towards transport costs. We are based in Balfron so this is our ‘home event’. Lets make it another successful one this year. Thanks also to Shoe Share Malawi who also donated training shoes to us and put us in touch with the organisers of the Balfron 10k event. Thanks so much, Sarah x

Also, some other news to share, myself and another trustee, Liz, are visiting the projects we support in Malawi for the first time in May. We are very excited and you can read about our plans here https://gofund.me/866bf18f0 and if you’d like to get in touch, our email is contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Enjoy the photos. Thanks again, Sarah x

Balfron 10K – collecting shoes

Balfron 10K – collecting shoes

Sarah’s blog 05/05/25

What an amazing morning we had yesterday at Balfron 10K (sponsored by The Mulberry Bush Nursery). The sun was shining and spectators and runners were out in force…what a great community atmosphere!

Many of the hundreds of children and young people we help to support do not own a pair of shoes. They walk long distances to get to school and nursery and their feet need protecting. Also they need trainers for playing their favourite team sports; football, netball and rugby.

So many people where we live have several pairs of shoes and children are growing quickly so their shoes still have lots of life in them. We were delighted when the race organisers agreed that we could come along and collect preloved shoes that we had asked for via social media. We also asked for £1 donations to cover the cost of sending each pair of shoes. We pay £17.50 per box on the container that goes to Malawi and there are associated costs in Malawi to collect the boxes.

We were absolutely delighted with the response and the 85 pairs of shoes/trainers that were donated. Thank you so much everyone! This is life changing for young people who do not have shoes or their shoes are far too small. I have also had two bags of shoes handed to me today so that takes us over 100 pairs now! This is an ongoing project so we are happy to accept preloved trainers, shoes, crocs or sliders at any time. Could we please respectfully ask that shoes are clean and in good condition.

I have included in the photos below our QR code if you didn’t manage to make a donation to cover sending your shoes yesterday or if anyone would like to make a donation in general via the QR code or website or you can email me contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com for bank details.

The 10k organisers kindly donated some surplus t-shirts from one of the previous races. These will help young people feel part of a team when playing football etc so will be shared between local primary schools. Thank you.

We had a great time chatting to people yesterday and made some good connections. I want to say thank you to my hubby Stuart who, as he calls himself, is the lifter and shifter… couldn’t do this without you. Also to Jackie who provides so much support in the background and willingly helps at events like this. We really do need more volunteers though just to make things a little bit easier and share the load. contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com if you’d like to get involved. Many thanks everyone and hope you enjoy the photos and video, Sarah x

ps we are also raising money to buy soap for each of the children and young people to take home to their families to help protect against the Mpox outbreak. If you can help then here is the link, thank you. https://donorsee.com/project/27307?share=1

Thank you for the books Balfron Primary School!