Wakefield Trinity stars Caius Faatili, Caleb Hamlin-Uele, Mason Lino and Isaiah Vagana paid a visit to the Zarach Warehouse last week, ahead of the upcoming Walk With Wakey, in support of the Wakefield Children’s Bed Appeal!
Around 100 walkers will be making the trek from the DIY Kitchens Stadium to The OneBore Stadium on Friday 5th September ahead of Trinity’s Betfred Super League Round 25 clash against Castleford Tigers, raising funds for the Wakefield Children’s Bed Appeal and the Foundation.
More than 6,000 children in the Wakefield District go to sleep every night without a bed to call their own, with such startling statistics inspiring the Wakefield Children’s Bed Appeal to tackle bed poverty in our area.
Thanks to the work of partner company Zarach, alongside Prosper Wakefield, more than 14,000 beds have been delivered to children who are most in need.
“It’s an amazing initiative that’s been started here,” said Wakefield Trinity half-back Mason Lino. “It’s been great to visit and see all of the hard work that they’ve put in over the last seven years to get the charity to where it is now.
“Hearing the statistics earlier, it’s crazy to think that there’s kids out there who don’t have a bed to go home to. Being a father myself, hearing that, it was really hard to hear.
“Education is massive for children and getting a good night’s sleep is so important in that.
“The work that Zarach does is unreal and hopefully it continues to grow and we can see those bed poverty numbers start to decline.
“If you are planning on coming to the game against Castleford, head down to Wakefield first and walk together with our group of walkers and then we’ll go over there and get the Tigers too!”
Trinity prop Caius Faatili added: “Bed poverty is something that people aren’t too aware of, particularly for children and some having to sleep on the floor.
“I couldn’t imagine my daughter having no bed to go home to. To hear about the work that’s been done by Zarach in tackling that and it’s an awesome initiative.
“It’s been an eye-opening experience to visit the warehouse and I hope that people can see the statistics as well. Just in Wakefield, there’s 6,000 children that don’t have a bed.
“If that’s something that we can raise awareness of, then that’s amazing.
“It’d be great to see plenty of support for Walk With Wakey. Unfortunately I can’t be there as I’ll be playing, fingers crossed!
“I believe there’s as many as 100 walkers taking part, which is amazing to hear, and hopefully we can raise plenty of money.”
Zarach was founded in 2018 by Primary School teacher Bex Wilson who was taken aback after discovering one of her pupils did not have a bed at home, leading to tiredness during her lessons in school.
“Having a bed is seemingly such a basic thing in human life, but so many children in our country don’t have one,” explained Zarach Communications Manager Amy Green.
“Our research with Barnardo’s shows that 900,000 children don’t have a bed of their own to sleep in, which is devastating and has such a significant impact on their lives and their mental health and wellbeing.
“We call bed poverty a hidden truth, but it’s widespread right across the UK. In the areas that we operate in, there’s a minimum of a 30% child poverty rate. There’s so many children who don’t have the basics that they need.
“This year alone, we’ll deliver more than 5,000 beds to children in West Yorkshire and in other regions. We’ve delivered 14,000 beds already and we only see a bigger future for Zarach.
“£150 pays for a full bed bundle and that will really help a child and provide them with a bed and mattress that will last them for at least eight years, either all the way through primary school or high school, to give them the best chance to succeed at school.
“Here at Zarach, we’re ready to do more, we’re ready to give out more beds in more places around the country and we can only do that by raising awareness for the cause and getting those all important donations to be able to fund the work that we do.”
To donate to our Walk With Wakey fundraiser in support of the Wakefield Children’s Bed Appeal and the Wakefield Trinity Community Foundation, please click HERE!
To join our group of walkers who are making the trip from the DIY Kitchens Stadium to The OneBore Stadium, please register by clicking HERE!