A former Skegness homeless man and his dog have completed a gruelling 200-mile Walk the Wash challenge to thank the charity he says helped him turn his life around. Tim Jones and his dog, Monty, spent 10 days and nights on the road walking from The Storehouse Church in Skegness to Hunstanton and back. He was raising money for the Restore charity he credits for helping him turn his life around.
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00:00A former homeless man from Sverdlovsk has completed a 200-mile challenge walking the
00:07wash to raise money for the charity he credits for helping him turn his life around.
00:23Tim, three days after you got back and you're working hard again at Restore, how are you
00:29feeling? I'm getting there. My feet still hurt a little bit. I'm not as tired as I was
00:36but I'm on light duties. Now how did you feel when you arrived back at the storehouse on
00:45Monday? Very overwhelmed to be honest. I didn't expect the amount of people that were there
00:51but obviously I was tired. I haven't been in the best of places. I mean 200 miles, it's a long
01:03way isn't it and it took you nine days is that? Yeah, ten days technically. The official
01:13number was nine days. How was that journey? I enjoyed it but the weather wasn't on my
01:22side, neither were my feet and legs. I've had numerous blisters. I've ripped the skin
01:29off one of my tendons. I was about to pack a tin on the Saturday night but an anonymous
01:39donor came and gave me a cuddle and donated some waterproof socks, bought me a takeaway,
01:46some chocolate bars and basically said you need to push on and finish and that's what
01:53I did. And here you are and what about your little dog? He's great, he's fine. He's sitting
02:00in my office at the minute. So how did he cope because it's a long way for little legs
02:07isn't it? He's got a waterproof coat that he had on pretty much every day to keep the
02:14wind off him as well but he just pulls. He kept me going. Now you were raising money
02:23for Restore which is where we are today with the food bank and all the facilities for homeless
02:29people in Skegness, the lovely kitchen and shower facilities. How much did you raise?
02:37Put me on the spot. Nearly £1500. It's about £1480 something I believe. That's a lot of
02:49money. Did you expect that? I would have liked more but I'm happy with what we raised. But
03:01the page is still open to the end of the week and we are still accepting donations at the
03:06storehouse. And was it worthwhile? Definitely, yeah. I'll do it again next week. You must
03:15be really proud of Tim. I really am, yes. Tim has gone from client to volunteer to very
03:23close friend and I enjoy hanging out with Tim outside of work as well but hearing the
03:29story of him going from planning this walk to it becoming a fundraiser to it being for
03:36him taking action on it and actually going through with it and completing it, I'm just
03:40so proud of him. He's made such a big difference here at the storehouse with his volunteering
03:44and now he's made a really big difference with this fundraiser as well. As you might
03:48have already heard, there's a lot of money that's been raised through this and it's all
03:52going to go towards the food bank, it's going to go towards the Restore Centre for the Homeless.
03:57So people's lives are going to be changed because of the stuff that Tim's done but also
04:01for the people out there that have contributed towards the fundraiser, whether it might just
04:06be a couple of pence or a pound or something, all of that is going towards making a difference
04:11in Skegness. So what Tim's done is great but what you guys have done out there who
04:15have donated is great as well. And the fundraiser is still open, there's still time to donate
04:21so I'm sure there'll be a link in the description somewhere for the GoFundMe page but thank
04:26you very much everyone out there. And it must be inspirational to people who've fallen
04:32on hard times and become homeless to see how someone can turn their lives around like this.
04:39Absolutely, yes. Tim is a great example. We set out here at the Restore Centre hoping
04:44to be able to help people from the situation they're in to elevate them into a position
04:49where they've got accommodation, where they're independent, where they don't need the food
04:53bank, where they don't need the Restore Centre anymore. Tim's gone full circle and now he's
04:58volunteering, helping others that are going through the same thing he went through. One
05:02of our things we really wanted to achieve was peer-to-peer support and Tim really is
05:07the coming through of that here at the Restore Centre.