Sheffield charity chair walks half marathon in unique fundraising effort

Chair of The Suit Works, Alex Swallow is walking 21km around Sheffield to raise money for his charity.

Chair of The Suit Works, Alex Swallow is walking a half marathon across Sheffield today while wearing 21 pieces of clothing in order to fundraise for his charity that provides unemployed people with smart clothing for interviews.

The charity head will start his 21km walk in Hillsborough Park, before heading to Meersbrook Park and Beeley Wood and finishing his journey at The Suit Works office in Neepsend.

After every kilometre, Alex will put on a new item of clothing in order to raise money to fund the organisation that provides personal styling tips and interview coaching to people who are out of work.

The charity head will wear 21 items of clothing as he walks a half marathon around the city.

He has already raised £1,220 for The Suit Works through his fundraising page– vastly exceeding his initial target of £450.

The chair explained he came up with the idea of the sponsored walk because his birthday is next week and he wanted to give something back to the charity.

Alex said: “The Suit Works is a small charity and we've been going through a rough time in terms of funding.

"I just wanted to put in a bit of effort and show everyone in the charity that I'm bothered about it and I think their work is really important.”

The charity was forced to stop their one-to-one personal styling sessions when the coronavirus lockdown was enforced in March due to social distancing guidelines.

The Suit Works is now concerned about how recent job losses will affect the region, after they saw an 183% increase in referrals in the past year and expect this number to increase when they can re-open.

Alex continued: “Sheffield is an amazing place and I’ve found a real sense of community here but there’s a hidden side of Sheffield where there is a lot of poverty and deprivation.

“Part of my motivation is that Sheffield really needs to come together as there are so many people suffering right now and if The Suit Works can play in getting the city back on its feet than that’s fantastic.”

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