An Elderslie woman has swam the length of the English channel over 12 weeks to raise money for a Scottish charity.
Morgan Deveney, having been a keen swimmer when she was younger, took the sport back up to help her younger brother – then 11 – learn to swim.
Her next challenge was to support Who Cares? Scotland.
Over the twelve weeks Morgan swam four to five times per week on top of work and a separate group swimming club, travelling over 22 miles -more than 700 lengths of an Olympic swimming pool. A relatively new swimmer, her younger brother also joined her to complete 11 miles of his own.
Morgan mainly swam at The Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, but she also did her lengths at Johnstone and while she was on holiday in Benidorm.
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Morgan, 25, said: “I first heard of Who Cares? Scotland while at university. A group of staff from the organisation came to deliver a talk about who they are and the work they do. From then I knew I wanted to be involved in volunteering for over two years in Renfrewshire helping run groups like the Wee Diamonds.
“When I knew I was going to do my swim, I chose Who Cares? Scotland to show some appreciation for the work they do and the great time I had there.
“I’m staggered by the amount I’ve raised so far and am very grateful to everyone who has donated. I’ve already more than doubled my target, anything else on top would be the icing on the cake.
“I believe there should be greater knowledge about care, Care Experienced people and their circumstances, and I hope the money I raise will go towards education on those topics. I’d also be very happy if it was to help connect more Care Experienced people by funding groups like those I volunteered with.”
Who Cares? Scotland is Scotland’s only national independent membership organisation for care experienced people. That is those who are, or have been, in the care system.
This includes foster care, kinship care, residential care, adoption and those looked after at a home. It provides advocacy and participation opportunities across Scotland.
In Renfrewshire, the team delivers the Communities That Care project, which is funded by STV Children’s Appeal. This aims to make Renfrewshire the most caring place in Scotland for children and young people.
Louise Hunter, chief executive at Who Cares? Scotland, said: “We’d like to give a huge thank you to Morgan for swimming such a distance on behalf of Who Cares? Scotland. We hope she’s had a chance to recover and we’re extremely happy she still has such passion for seeing our vision become reality.
“It’s the drive of people like Morgan that helps us as we fight for a lifetime of Equality, Respect and Love for Care Experienced people.”
If you would like to support Morgan, you can do so by donating to her fundraising page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/morgan-deveney .
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