Schoolboy inspired to raise money for charity after befriending homeless man in Burnley

It’s the third year Thomas Wilson has taken part in the ‘I'm Stepping Forward’ campaign in a bid to end homelessness.

Thomas, who goes to St Mary’s RC Primary School in Sabden, said: “It's important for me to raise money for Crisis and take part in the Step Forward challenge for the third time because I know that people are still homeless after the pandemic.

“I often wonder about Dean, the man experiencing homelessness who I met before the first lockdown in 2020 who inspired me to take part in the challenge that year.

“He was homeless because his mum had died and he had nowhere to live.

“We spoke to him every week and he was my friend. It made me so sad that he had nowhere to live and I wanted to do something to help people in his situation.“We haven't seen him since the first lockdown and I think about how he is doing a lot. I hope he has a home now.“I have raised over £2000 in the past two challenges and would love to raise more.“I have increased my distance to run 31 miles - a mile a day in March. Last year I did 26.2 miles, a full marathon distance, over the month so I wanted to go even further this year!”

Thomas was the Young Fundraiser of the Year runner-up in The Birch Awards 2021, which are a Crisis-run awards for their young supporters.

For the link to sponsor Thomas click HERE