Swim 3.8km, Bike 180km and Run 42km (< 15hrs)
On the 30th of September I will be attempting an Ironman distance triathlon in Barcelona for which I was training irregularly for the past 8 months. It was a lot of fun and hard work: bikerides in the night, almost ran over some deer in Richmon Park a couple of times, runs in the rain and swims in open water. A lot of people told me I'm crazy for going straight for the full Ironman without prior triathlon experience, but I like challenges, though I'm still not sure that I'll manage to cross the finish line. To help me do this, please support me by cheering me up in the comments and donating for the following two causes. Raising £10,000 for Alzheimer's Society as part of the IBM ECM team Challenge. Please follow this link for more details:
www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/UK-ECM-10K
2. Raise £2000 for extremely poor families in Moldova. Summary: I will distribute the money raised equally among five very poor families from a rural area in Moldova. Two years ago I organised a charity campaign with my friend Denis where we raised money and colleted clothes for an Orphanage in Moldova. As a result of that we gave each of the 70 children in the orphanage a bag with needed stationary, sweets and higene products. To see some pictures from that go to "photos" of this page. This time I wanted to raise money for another orphanage, but after doing some research with Denis, we realised that orphanages across Moldova receive better help than before, leading to some sad cases of extremly poor families sending their children to the orphanage to give them a better childhood. I believe this is inadmissible and that every child should have a decent childhood with their parents. Luckily there are some volunteers that are trying to address this issue. We contacted them and here is one of the replies (translated from Romanian):
"
Hello, Denis. I'm Veronica from TDV (Volunteering NGO - http://tdvmoldova.wordpress.com/), we spoke over the phone. I'll describe here the situation of some families, as you asked, from the village of Micauti, region Straseni (map: http://goo.gl/maps/DTBa5) whom we have visited during the National Volunteer Week. Those families are in great need of financial help and it would be great any donations could reach them. You can see some pictures of these families in the album "Gifts from the bunny for the children of the village (May 19)" Volunteer Coalition page. (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150900902217521.435667.263119737520&type=3)
• The Efros family has 5 children (3 boys and 2 girls). The oldest girl (9 years) is suffering from child cerebral paralysis, and their parents do not work. The house where the family lives needs repair, furniture almost absent (only have a small kitchen, an old TV, 2 beds and a closet in a deplorable condition).
• The Potulai family has 6 children, the eldest ones are about 15 years old and not attending school. They live only with their mother, who works at the farmers market in the capital. If they won't receive help, the other children won't be able to continue to attend school.
• When I was visiting the Duminica family, they had been recently discharged from hospital being treated for tuberculosis. The children got the infection from their dad. I think they have not yet been fully recovered and I think their parents can't find jobs.
• The Caraman family have 3 or 4 children, but only 2 of them are minors. The little boy is about 6 months old. The whole family is living in a house of approximately 20 m2.
• I got the most emotional when I met the children from the Tataru family. There are two of them: a girl in the 6th grade and a boy who must have graduated from high school this summer. This spring they were receiving only 500 lei (£25) per month, but now that the boy turned 18, they don't get the financial help anymore. They have a pretty good home, but they need food, clothes and even money to be able to maintain themselves...
"
How? Bank transfer (better if you're in UK, 0% transaction fee)
Name: Serghei Prisacaru
Account: 93545318
Sort code: 206325
Reference: Donation
B. PayPal (easier if you're outside UK or can't do option A)
Paypal account:"prisacaru.serghei@gmail.com"
Click this link to Donate:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=5DSGV9BN5ZZB2
*Please note that PayPal will charge 3.2% per transaction, but I promise to replace this from my own pocket to make sure 100% of your Donation reaches those families. Step 2 of 2 Document
After you make the transaction please complete this very short form (takes just 30sec)
http://tinyurl.com/DonationMoldovaForm
write below the amount and any other comments. If you want to make an anonymous donation or provide your email to receive a summary update please complete this very short form:
http://tinyurl.com/DonationMoldovaForm
All received donations along with names and dates will be transferred to this spreadsheet for transparency and accountability:
http://tinyurl.com/donationSpreadsheet
Two days after the Ironman I'm flying to Moldova to be bestman at Denis' wedding. That week I will go personally to the Micauti village with a member of the TDV Volunteers and distribute the donations among the families. All the money raised will be distributed equally between the 5 families mentioned above. I will replace any costs (for example currency conversion or transaction fees) to make absolutely sure that 100% of your Donation reaches the people in need. I will also post a report about the campaign on this page and will email it to you. Thank you for your support! Sincerily
Serghei
