THE HERALD has been following the progress of three intrepid Llanelli adventurers, Keire McAlinden, Sophie Lewis and Michelle Williams-January, for the past year. We first covered the exploits of the three girls when they decided to go and sleep rough on the streets of London in order to raise money. That was followed by another stint on the streets – this time in Bristol and Cardiff. We then covered the story of the girls as they planned to trek the Machu Picchu Trail. Back then, the girls were researching the trail at Llanelli Library and starting to get into a training regime to prepare for the tough trek. Whizz forward a few months and we spotted the three well-travelled girls at Spring Gardens in Llanelli, carrying enormous cheques of £4,000 for MIND and £4,000 for Shelter Cymru.
In order to raise the staggering amount of £8,000, Keire McAlinden, Sophie Lewis and Michelle Williams- January completed a half marathon in March, hosted horse racing nights, curry nights, climbed Snowdon and eventually completed the Inca Trail in September. Speaking to The Herald, the girls said: “We thought we were prepared but we weren’t. We thought we were doing the 24 mile trek but when we got there, it turned out we were doing the 56 mile trek. It was minus eight degrees at some points.”
When asked what had inspired them to raise the money, the girls said: “We started in January last year after making a new year’s resolution. There are so many people being made homeless because of mental health issues. We thought we’d do our best to try and help them and we wanted a challenge to test us physically and mentally.
“It was Keire’s birthday when we were out there and we climbed one of the peaks on her birthday. We can’t stop now! We have had so much fun doing it. Hopefully next year we will attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
“We hope we have inspired people. We couldn’t have done it without our family and friends and the generous people who have donated.”
Having received the cheque for £4,000, Jen Caton, Manager of Llanelli MIND, said: “We plan to put the money towards our counselling services which don’t get much funding – it is done on a volunteer basis. We want to do crisis counselling for people who are self-harming, and anger management, for people who need support and can’t wait.
“What the girls have achieved is fantastic. We need more people like them in the county; it would make a huge difference. We get funded through the County Council and Hywel Dda but there is a shortfall of £12,000 every year. We are constantly fundraising so this is brilliant.”
Speaking to The Herald after receiving her cheque, Deborah Docherty, Fundraising Officer for Shelter Cymru, said: “We are amazed by the challenges the girls have taken on all year as well as working full-time.
“We will use the money towards our housing advice services and it will make a huge difference to a lot of people who are threatened with homelessness. It is a problem in Llanelli and it isn’t that visible because we don’t see people on the streets but it is there all the same. People are sofa surfing and living rough; it is an invisible problem.
“Our funding has been cut and fundraising like this brings in a huge amount of money that helps us. It is the same across the country – if you lose your job, become redundant or are off work for any length of time, the income stops and you find yourself in trouble.
“It can happen to any of us. It falls to us to pick up the pieces.”
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