An “amazing” nine-year-old Inverurie boy has set himself a daunting challenge all in the name of a good cause.
James Airzee has been running every day in June to raise funds for Inverurie and District Men’s Shed.
The youngster set himself the challenge of running one mile every day in June to raise funds for his local community charity.
The Inverurie and District Men’s Shed (IDMS) supports the mental wellbeing of men by providing facilities for social interaction, including making and repairing items made out of wood and metal.
IDMS is one of more than 150 sheds that are part of the Scottish Men’s Shed Association. It is an initiative that was originally founded in Australia to tackle social isolation.
His mum, Ruth Henderson, explained that he decided to fundraise for the charity after walking past the allotments one day and realising the good work that IDMS do.
She said: “We walked past the allotments one day with the dogs and we thought it was a really cool place, and James said he’d like to raise money when he’s older, so I said ‘why wait till you’re older, why not do it now?’ and he said ‘yeah’.
“He was thinking a lot about mental health and I said the men’s shed is about mental health as well because they create a club for people who might be on their own, or retired men who feel at a bit of a loose end now they aren’t working and things like that.
“So, we looked at their website and it’s amazing. They even have meetings where you can go for a coffee and a biscuit and a catch up. James really liked that idea that men, especially retired men, don’t feel lonely and that they have a place to go to and socialise, so, he said he wanted to do it for the men’s shed.”
After setting an initial target of £100 on his GoFundMe, Mr Airzee has already raised £865. Miss Henderson is hopeful her son will manage to raise close to £1,000 for the charity.
She said: “I’m hoping that he gets to £1,000, but most people have sponsored him now. I’ve still to do it and his dad is still to do it so he will definitely get over £900, but I’m not too sure he will get to £1,000.”
The young boy has ran a mile every day for the past 25 days, and although he is starting to get tired he is determined not to give up.
His mum explained: “He’s done really well, now he’s been doing it for 25 days and its the end of term for school he is starting to get a bit like ‘I don’t want to do it today, mum’, but he still does because he knows there’s a lot of people relying on him.
“The first week he was sprinting around and now you can see in his timings that he is starting to get tired, but he still cracks on with it so I am really proud of him.
“Even some days he’s not felt good, last week he got cramp in his leg but we just got deep heat and he just kept doing it, he’s just amazing.”
His last run will be on Wednesday June 30, and his mum said they plan to run from the main road in Inverurie and finish at the allotment.
IDMS are delighted that Mr Airzee decided to support their group and are thankful to him for his efforts.
Archie Peebles, chairman for IDMS, commented: “It’s really great James is doing this for us, we can’t commend him highly enough and he’s being doing it every single day. We want to emphasize our gratitude to James for running every day for us come rain or sun.”