Local TV presenter, Georgina Burnett, who is the presenter of The Home Genie, an online vlog which includes live DIY demonstrations on Facebook, completed a fundraising marathon on Tuesday 14th November in the Sevenoaks area, whilst also picking up litter on the way. We caught up with her at mile 18 to see how she was getting on and to help support her fundraising challenge.
At 9.00am, Georgina started off the ‘litter picking’ marathon for the BBC’s Children In Need appeal at Sevenoaks station on a route that would take her through the villages of Chipstead, Riverhead, Dunton Green, Otford, Kemsing and Seal, before heading back through Sevenoaks and the surrounding roads. Georgina, who is also a freelance presenter and reporter for BBC News and Weather, completed the walking marathon in around nine and a half hours.
Georgina had posted on her JustGiving page “I am going to pick up litter for 26.2 miles! for BBC Children in Need, because I want to be helpful whilst raising money for this cause.” When I asked her why she had chosen this particular feat she laughed and said: “To be honest I don’t know, no one knows, it just kind of happened”.
The majority of rubbish that was collected appeared to be chocolate wrappers, energy drink cans and a large variety of the McDonalds menu.
Last year, Georgina had successfully completed a 24 hour paintathon, again for Children In Need, live on Facebook and raising around £1,800 in the process. Although she commented that it would be a lot easier to do her challenge this year. 26.2 miles of walking versus 24 hours of painting? Her argument being that she had to talk for the whole 24 hours to keep her viewers entertained, this year there would only be hourly updates of around three minutes each time.
After she had completed the marathon she commented on Facebook: “I did it! 26.2 miles of walking, 22 bags of litter collected and four massive blisters… If you haven’t sponsored yet please do, it’s for Children in Need. Thanks for all the support and sponsorship so far x”. Following it up the morning after with “Have woken up with fewer aches than I’d expected but seeing that we are well over my sponsorship target is a brilliant start to the day so thank you thank you thank you for your support and generosity! xxx”.
As Georgina mentioned, her supporters have already raised more than the target of £1005.00, sponsoring her via her JustGiving page, a few of the comments left with donations read:
“With sincere and caring folks like Georgina Burnett, the future of those children is certainly bright. The land is Green!”
“Every little helps – not only are you raising money for such a great cause, you are also doing your bit for the surrounding environment. Sponsored you for your Paintathon – I’ll do it again this year!”
“A great idea and thank you for helping highlight two big issues, Children in Need and litter!”
We think that Georgina has definitely gone above and beyond in her latest challenge, and we commend her on her efforts and for completing a marathon, albeit a slightly different one to the norm!
You can still sponsor Georgina via her JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thehomegenielitterpick
Georgina Burnett is joined by Steve Rowley, the Sevenoaks Sports editor, who helped to pick up litter on her walking marathon.
