Jon Sharrock, IT Manager at Shropshire Homes, and his friend, Geoff Phillips, are set to hike 100km across the Sahara Desert in an effort to raise £3,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance.
Jon, Geoff and 12 others will start their adventure on 16th October. The 100km challenge across the Sahara Desert will follow camel trails over the course of five days, including five nights of camping which will be very hands-on, requiring them to set up and take down camp themselves. On completing the challenge, they will head back to Marrakesh where they will enjoy a celebratory meal and an overnight stay in a hotel, before flying back to the UK on 22nd October.
Jon and Geoff are selflessly funding the entire trip themselves and are aiming to raise £3,000 for the Midlands Air Ambulance. When asking Jon what made Midlands Air Ambulance their charity of choice, he said “I worked as a First Responder for 6 years so saw first-hand how fantastic Midlands Air Ambulance are. I am also a keen motorcyclist and have done many events for Air Ambulance over the years, including Bike4Life. It is a very worthy cause”.
He added “Often people don’t realise that one mission costs Midlands Air Ambulance approximately £3,000 and whilst the doctors and paramedics are paid through the NHS, all the ground crew, admin and so on are paid through the charity or volunteer. That’s why it is so important that we continue to spread awareness of this and raise money to help Midlands Air Ambulance continue saving lives”.
Jon is no stranger to taking on challenges for various charities, having previously completed many 50km-100km walking events across the South Coast of England and London.
Pictured are Jon and Geoff visiting the Midlands Air Ambulance crew and staff based at Cosford. The team gave Jon and Geoff a tour and explained how the aircraft works, the resources they have available to use, the cost per mission and allocation of charity funds. They were very grateful to Midlands Air Ambulance for giving them the opportunity to find out more – making them even more determined to do Midlands Air Ambulance proud.
On behalf of Shropshire Homes, we would like to wish Jon and Geoff the best of luck in their adventure – they should be very proud of what they have achieved so far and the goals they have set for themselves.
If you would like to donate to an extremely worthy cause and support Jon and Geoff in their trek across the Sahara Desert, please follow the link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jon-sharrock1