Back in April, we wrote about Captain Tom Moore and his quest to raise money for NHS charities in the UK by walking laps around his backyard. The 99-year old’s goal was to raise £1,000 ($1,300) by walking 100 laps before his 100th birthday at the end of the month but wound up raising over £32 million after inspiring so many people to donate.
After seeing the success of Moore’s walking campaign, an 11-year-old girl became inspired to create and complete her own challenge: juggle a soccer ball 7.1 million times, one for every essential worker in the UK, to raise money for a number of charities.
The young soccer player, Imogen Papworth-Heidel, completed a total of 1,123,586 keepy-uppies (British lingo for juggling a soccer ball) during an unbroken 195-day run, reaching more 7,000 a day during the lockdown and the summer holidays. The remaining 5,976,414 were donated by around 2,000 people who took videos of themselves joining in the challenge.
Imogen was initially doing 200 keepy-uppies per day, but her parents calculated it would take her 97 years to complete. That’s when she started to do more and got help from others.
The challenge reached its conclusion this week at Cambridge United’s Abbey Stadium where Imogen completed her the last 3,000 keepy-uppies. By the end of the challenge, she raised more than £10,800 ($14,000) for nine charities.
“I’m just absolutely speechless at how much money we’ve raised, how many keepy-uppies have been donated, and how many kind messages of support have come in,” said Imogen following the challenge.
Image Source: Joe Giddens
