A teenager is gearing up to walk 17,000 steps every day throughout April to raise money to help rescue dogs.
Young fundraiser Amelia Britten, who lives with her parents and three brothers in Crickhowell, is hoping to raise money for Hope Rescue in Llanharan which is dedicated to saving stray, abandoned and unwanted dogs as well as campaigning for animal rights.
The passionate 14-year-old, who goes by Mia, said she had picked Hope Rescue as it’s a bit closer to home in Wales and she likes what they do.
The Crickhowell High School student has also previously raised money for refugee charity United Kingdom for UNHCR as well as Red Wings Horse Sanctuary in Norfolk.
Mia said: “They rescue dogs who are being abused etc etc, and they just try and makes their lives as amazing as possible, as much as they can. I do a lot of research and I do two main fundraisers each year - my April one is all about animals, so I was looking at animal sanctuaries. I saw this one is just outside of Cardiff and I go to Cardiff quite often.
“I love animals - we’ve got a dog and two cats. The dog is called Saffron and we’ve got the older cat called Pooki and the little cat called Bebe.”
The challenge will last throughout April and, in total, will amount to a whopping 510,000 steps - approximately 255 miles.
Inspiring Mia said: “This fundraiser’s going to be 17,000 steps a day for a month so a little bit ambitious, but with all my fundraisers that I’ve done previously, they’ve always had a bit of a challenge so I’m read to take it on.
“I can’t wait. I just like making a difference, if it’s for an animal or a human’s life, I’ve always liked helping.”
Mia, who enjoys netball, running and walking in her spare time when she isn’t fundraising, managed to raise more than £1,000 last year.
The young animal lover, who hopes to one day have a career centred around fundraising to help others, raised around £600 for Red Wings Horse Sanctuary by walking up Table Mountain three times times in one day before raising around £400 for the UK for UNHCL by cycling 41 miles in October.
Mia said she had previously settled on the refugee charity after learning about the situation with refugees in Afghanistan in English in school last year - the class had to write speeches.
The teenager said it had inspired her and made her realise how much she wanted to help make a difference.
Mia said: “I just, I think it’s so important to just to try to make a difference in the world. Even though I’m only 14 and I can’t do that much to help the world, I still feel like it’s important to make the small differences.
“Even £20 to the last fundraiser I did [UK for UNHCL] could help a family have a tent over their head whilst in a refugee camp. It’s a weird thing to explain, I feel like I should be doing this and I feel like it’s one of my future career paths.”
Mia, who has started her JustGiving page but has been waiting to share it, said she is aiming for £200 although she is hoping to raise more for Hope Rescue.
The goal on all of her fundraisers has been £200, however she has previously always managed to raise more while also raising awareness of the relevant charities.
The fundraising star said: “Any donations, anything at all, would be very much appreciated - nobody has to feel obliged to donate.”
Mia said that while her family think her challenges are a bit “crazy’, they are always supportive of her efforts.
The youngster said: “My dad and my mum think that I’m absolutely crazy for doing all of these different challenges, but they all do very much support me. I’m incredibly grateful for the support that I’ve been given, like they’ll post on their Facebook and their Instagram about me doing these challenges and that’s where most of these donations come from - from mum and dad’s friends online.”
Proud mum Dani Britten said: “She’s done so much fundraising, I’m really pleased - she’s done all of this promotion and stuff off her own back and I’m dead proud.
“She’s worked so hard on her fund-raising things, she’s really focused. She’s been working really hard and she’s been very dedicated - she raised just over £1,000 last year and she’s done it all on her own other than we’ve done things like we took her up the mountain and, in fact, all of us couldn’t do that trip that she did - we all sort of took it in turns to go with her.
“But other than that kind of support, she’s done everything off her own back and organised everything. I think she wants to inspire other people do something as well which is quite amazing because she started doing this when she was 12 and she’s now 14 and this is her third fundraiser which she has literally organised on her own.”