A determined team of housebuilders raised hundreds of pounds to champion mental health support.
A team of five from Cala Homes Chiltern accepted the 'Samarathon' challenge to walk or run a minimum of 26.2 miles over a month, eventually committing to cover 100 miles each in just one month to help the Samaritans.
They raised almost £400 after covering 650 miles, which Cala matched with £790 also donated to the Samaritans, who are Cala’s charity partner for the year.
Cala’s regional fundraising activity lead Sarah Boast said: “The Samaritans do incredibly important work supporting the wellbeing of those in need and that’s particularly important in our industry.
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“So we’re delighted to be able to support their work however we can.
“It’s been great fun coming together as a team for this challenge and we’re very proud to see that we smashed our milage target over the course of the month.
"The team were feeling sore afterwards, but we’re looking forward to our next challenge already!”
Samaritans called for better mental health support for middle aged men after research by the charity found middle-aged men to remain three times more likely to commit suicide than women, with the risk of suicide being significantly higher for men in the construction sector than the national UK average.
A partnership with Samaritans now supports Cala staff through sessions to help equip the teams with the skills to take care of their own and their colleagues’ wellbeing.
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