Runaway Jess - For Our Ngāhere & Manu

Kia ora katoa! I grew up in the beautiful Rotorua Lakes District, where I was surrounded by beautiful ngāhere (forest) and manu (birds). Moving to Ōtautahi Christchurch, I have realised how many cities in Aotearoa lack nature in urban areas. Due to raid urbanisation, our indigenous wildlife are critically endangered, and so I am running 30km in the Port Hills in December, as part of my training for the 50km Tarawera Ultramarathon in February, to raise money for Forest & Bird.

I have been a volunteer for Forest & Bird for the past 5 years where I am currently the Forest & Bird Youth Director and a leader at the Christchurch hub. During this time I have seen the amazing changes they create for nature. You can find out more about Forest& Bird here: https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ , and their youth division, Forest & Bird Youth here: https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/our-community/forest-bird-youth

Every dollar donated during December to Forest & Bird will be doubled due to their Christmas appeal. My aim is to raise $5 for every kilometre I run, so an end goal of $150 (which will be doubled to $300). If you can, please donate or share this page so that we can help nature, and therefore ourselves, to thrive :)