Five individuals representing the Archbishop of York Youth Trust will join The Great North Run, a hugely popular half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields, on Sunday 11 September.  They are fundraising in support of the Young Leaders Award for schools and Cry in the Dark, a Christian project that the Youth Trust has strong links with in Romania.

As part of the Archbishop of York’s KS4 Young Leaders Award, students from Manor CE Academy and Holy Trinity in Barnsley chose to volunteer with Cry in the Dark charity in Romania where they helped to run day-care activities at Casa-Albert Hospice and also worked with staff at Casa Lumina, Cry in the Dark’s residential home for vulnerable adults with special needs.

Students completing the Young Leaders Award, as delivered by the Youth Trust, take on a number of leadership challenges and are encouraged to volunteer with a charity as part of the KS4 Award.  The international module is optional but the students from Manor CE Academy and Holy Trinity School found the trip to be a life changing experience, and as a result the schools’ now take students each year to volunteer with the charity.

Dan Finn: “It’s great to be running in support of these two charities and celebrating the partnership working that has enabled many young people from the north of England to volunteer with Cry in the Dark through the Young Leaders Award. All funds raised will help to support both the work of the Youth Trust’s Young Leaders Award, running in hundreds of schools throughout the north of England, and Cry in the Dark’s Hospice programme, caring for vulnerable children and adults in Eastern Romania. Please do support us as we seek to help these two charities in their fantastic work.”

Abigail Miklasz (26), Paul Finn (67), Gav Loftus (34), Chris Marsh (40) will be joining the Director of the Youth Trust, Dan Finn for the Great North Run.  All are seasoned half or full marathon runners.

About Cry in the Dark

Our vision is to put Christian love and compassion into action by reaching out to children and young people of any race, creed or faith who are marginalised by poverty, sickness or disability. Our exciting and innovative projects help us to bring hope and change to the lives of children and families in Romania. We spread life-changing love through our home for children with special needs, programmes and projects within a Roma community, advocacy, care and our hospice in Romania. For more info, please visit www.cryinthedark.org