Founded at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Oxford Mutual Aid (OMA) quickly identified food insecurity as a major issue in Oxford. From the outside, Oxford may seem like an affluent city if you’re only looking at the University, but it has many of the most deprived areas in the country and Covid further exposed these inequalities. Years later, through an enormous community effort, OMA is still supporting the community by delivering thousands of food parcels a year to those who need them: no questions asked, just food and other necessities brought to their doorsteps, supported by a team of dedicated staff and volunteers.
In this fundraising challenge, a team of runners are clubbing together to collectively clock up more than 500km per month. Some of us are going a step further and running the Oxford Half Marathon in mid-October for OMA. If you’ve known me for a while then you’ll know that running has historically not been my forte (despite my first job being at a running shop). However, the dark days of Covid left me with little else to do than learn to love running, and I’m looking forward to training for the half over the summer.
OMA has been an vital part of my time in Oxford. Over nearly 4 years, I've spent many hours in the hall, packed countless parcels, met fantastic people, and trained around 100 volunteers. Now that my time in Oxford has come to an end and I'm no longer able to volunteer weekly, taking on the challenge of my first half marathon feels like a fitting way to say goodbye. Having been part of OMA for a long time, I know that the needs of the community have been growing year-on-year and raising funds is the most vital part of keeping OMA running (pun intended). I'm starting with a modest £500 target, but I'd love to increase this if I get enough support so we can raise as much for OMA as possible.
Please donate to our fundraiser and thank you for giving what you can! If you'd like to read more about OMA or consider becoming a regular donor, you can visit their website: www.oxfordmutualaid.org