Croston House Prep and Walk

What was the activity?

The Croston House Walk is a 15km sponsored walk where all the funds go towards the children at the Croston House. I participated in both the preparation for this event and in the actual walk itself.

Me on the walk!

What were my aims?

My objectives were to sell at least 30 t-shirts in the short amount of time we had, to get as many sponsors as possible, to spend time getting to know the Croston House kids and to help in making this event as successful as possible.

Some Regent's students on the walk

What did I do?

For the preparation I attended all the meetings where I managed to put forward my ideas for the event. I also stuck up posters around the school to advertise the walk and sold t-shirts at school during lunch times. On the day of the walk I had the chance to meet with all the kids and look after them for a while before the event commenced. Throughout the day I was given the task of looking after one of the girls from the Croston House and walk with her for the full 15km.
By the end of the day most people that signed up managed to complete the walk and all funds are now in the process of being collected. We managed to create a successful event in which many of our students participated. Personally from this experience I feel that I did contribute to the occasion as I helped fundraise and advertise. I also found time to mingle with the kids which was something I was really looking forward to. Seeing as I did manage to sell well over 30 t-shirts and collected a large amount of sponsorship money I feel I was very successful in reaching my goals.

Mr. Croston speaking to all our students before the walk

Were there any problems encountered along the way?

While I was looking after the Croston House kids I was a little nervous at first because I know very little Thai and they didn’t really know how to speak English. Even though there was this language difficulty, we did manage to communicate in other ways which has increased my confidence level immensely.

What have I gained?

I personally thought this was a very successful event as the whole school managed to raise a lot of money for a good cause and because everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on the day, including the children from the Croston House. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces really made all the hard work worth it and I will definitely be participating again next year. From the minor difficulty I came across during the walk I have learnt that two people don’t always need to speak the same language in order to communicate and that if there is a will there is a way. Next time I come across a similar problem I will know not to panic and I will feel more comfortable when I speak to people that I have never met before.

Find out more about Croston House: http://www.crostonhousechildrenshomethailand.org/