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Sponsor a Kilometre for Young Women’s Wellbeing

$5,740 of $5,000 goal

Given by 98 generous donors in around 3 months

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Shift your body, Shift your mind! Sponsor a kilometre for young women’s wellbeing!

Wellington

Kia ora! I'm Fran, the Founder of Shift.

I’m also a massive advocate for ‘shifting your body to shift your mind’. In November of this year I will be taking on a 165km ultramarathon across the Oman desert. Crazy?! But for a great cause! I’m doing this to raise money for the work The Shift Foundation does to improve the wellbeing of young women through physical activity, leadership and empowerment. My run will be entirely self-funded and any donations made will go directly towards the cost of running The Shift Foundation.

Watch my video to find out more about why I’m competing in this epic adventure and what Shift means to me.

PLEDGING YOUR SUPPORT

I’m looking to raise $5K which will be used by The Shift Foundation to prototype new programmes and services co-designed alongside young women to improve wellbeing outcomes.

To do this, I’ve assigned a value of $30 per kilometre and with your help, I’m confident we can get the full 165KM!

ABOUT THE RACE

Lucky for me I’m doing this with my buddy - Hayam Essam from Cairo. She is also an advocate for the power of movement to improve the wellbeing for women and girls, and we met in 2016 as alumni of the US Department of State & espnW Global Sports Mentoring Programme - Empower Women through Sports! She is training in the hot Egyptian summer, while I’m over here training in our (very mild!) winter.

The Oman desert marathon is 165KM (6 stages). We’ll be entirely self-sufficient - carrying our equipment, sleeping bag, food etc on our backs! The race will take place from 15 to 23 November 2019 - starting from the Alwasil Oasis of Bidiyah and finishing on the shore of the Arabian Sea, crossing one of the most beautiful deserts in the world.

For more information, visit the official race website: http://www.marathonoman.com/

About us

The Shift Foundation’s (Shift) vision is young women flourishing in their communities. We put young women at the centre of everything we do, and aim to improve their wellbeing through connection, empowerment, movement and leadership.

Use of funds

I’m looking to raise $5K which will be used by The Shift Foundation to prototype new programmes and services co-designed alongside young women to improve wellbeing outcomes.

Latest update

We did it! 24 November 2019

I'm sitting in a beautiful little cafe called 'Rumi' in the middle of Amman, Jordan (having left Oman yesterday) reflecting on the epic adventure that was, and how very grateful I am for all the support Shift received through this fundraising effort. THANK YOU!

I still haven't processed the actual 'event', but what I can say is that it far exceeded my expectations in both toughness and how much I enjoyed every second of it! The good (descending MASSIVE dunes whilst singing at the top of my lungs), the bad (climbing MASSIVE dunes and swearing loudly) and the ugly (a couple of tip top blisters, a ton of sand in EVERYTHING and minimal cleanliness!). I am hooked!

So... we did it! Thank you! Beyond grateful to all you very generous humans who donated and if you have a minute check out the final video from stage five - you'll hear me screeching towards the finish line, followed by a massive high five to the camera person. Weeeee did itttttt! WOW!

Here's to all the beautiful young women in the world and your contribution to supporting their wellbeing.

Aroha nui.

Fran xxx

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