A Pontarddulais woman has raised £1,230 for the Wales Air Ambulance after walking one million steps in a month!

Katy Edwards, 29, exceed her target of walking a million steps during the month of March and clocked a staggering 1,002,158 steps.

The operations consultant for McDonalds knew people that were taking part in a 300,000 steps during the month and wanted to exceed that amount for a charity that means a lot to her.

She said: “I wanted people to see how much it meant to me to raise funds. The Wales Air Ambulance was always my chosen charity because I do a lot of mountain and coastal walks, and I know that should anything happen to anyone the role that Wales Air Ambulances plays is vital. I know that the charity depends on donations and it dawned on me that the charity may have been struggling to match donations, due to Coronavirus pandemic, versus previous years.”

Katy had ‘huge support’ from friends and family during her challenge, not just with donations, but some days they joined her on her walks. Her partner Nathan Jackson also completed the million steps challenge with Katy as a personal goal, which helped Katy to achieve her steps.

Speaking about her huge challenge, Katy, said: “It was really difficult, I started a new job role at the beginning of March, and it meant that I didn’t really have as much time as before. There were days where I had to do over 60,000 steps to catch up, if I couldn’t do them on the previous day.”

In December 2020 the Charity, which celebrated its 20^th anniversary in March, achieved its aim of operating a 24/7 service. The Wales Air Ambulance needs to raise £8 million ever year to keep the helicopters in the air. 

Katy, who hoped to raise £200 for the charity, is delighted to have smashed her steps and fundraising target, she said: “I only hoped to raise £200 because I did ‘National Three Peaks Challenge’ last year and raised around £400. So I didn’t think I’d end up raising £1,230 - I’m thrilled with the amount raised. I would encourage anyone to raise money for a charity that means something to them, it’s such a great feeling.”

Jane Griffiths, the Charity’s South Wales community fundraiser, said: “Congratulations to Katy for completing her challenge. Katy set herself a challenge that the majority of people would shy away from and not only did she complete it, but she also exceeded her million steps and raised an amazing amount for charity. Thank you to Katy and everyone who supported her during her fundraiser.”

There are several ways that the public can continue to support the Wales Air Ambulance. These include online donations, signing up to the Charity’s Lifesaving Lottery or by coming up with their own innovative ways to fundraise at home.

Alternatively, a £5 text-message donation can be made by texting the word HELI to 70711.