Schoolboy Jacob’s triathlon feat to make sure no-one goes hungry this Christmas

Liverpool schoolboy Jacob Willis is getting ready for an epic triathlon to make sure no-one goes hungry this Christmas.

The 11-year-old is taking on the tough trial on September 29 in the hope of raising £1,600 for An Hour For Others charity which provides festive food hampers for struggling families.

Jacob, from New Brighton, will cycle 12 miles from West Kirby to Seacombe, board the ferry to Liverpool University’s training pool where he’ll embark on one-mile swim, and then he’ll run two miles from there to the Royal Liverpool Building.

It’s a big ask from such a young man but Jacob, who’s been training for three months to complete the challenge, says: “However hard it gets, it never occurs to me to say stop.

“When it gets difficult I just push through and think of the people I will be able to help. It’s the only way to achieve my goal.”

The triathlon will be Jacob’s fifth challenge for the charity after becoming aware of families struggling to put food on the table during lockdown.

“It was when Marcus Rashford was raising money for food poverty,” explains Jacob, who goes to St Anselm’s College in Birkenhead. “I saw him and was inspired by him. I was shocked that kids like me were going hungry.

“I just wasn’t aware that that could happen, and so I decided I wanted to do something for kids in Liverpool.”

Mum Eliza, 39, a creative producer for Culture Liverpool, adds: “We used to live in Anfield and Jacob decided he wanted to do something to help children local to us and set out to raise £30 to buy a supermarket voucher to give to a child or family who needed it.

“He spoke to his then headteacher at All Saints Primary who put us in touch with An Hour For Others.”

The city-centre charity was founded by Kevin Morland nine years ago, initially to help and support communities by providing a platform for businesses and individuals to share skills, donations, materials, and their time for those in need.

It has since grown from a small CIC into a valued Liverpool charity, which does whatever it can to tackle the many problems people can find themselves facing today, from mental health issues to community breakdowns and divisions, to poverty, and more. All with the aim of ‘bringing communities together to inspire positive change’.

Among its efforts now, inspired by Jacob, is the delivery of Christmas food hampers to families who are struggling around the festive season. It costs £40 per hamper, which includes meat, fresh vegetables and fruit, gravy, sauces, crackers and cheese, and a host of other treats. Delivered on or just before Christmas Eve, it means they have food so they can have a Christmas dinner along with a few extra goodies over the next few days.

The first challenge Jacob set himself in 2020, when he was only seven, was to run 26 miles – the distance of a marathon – in a month.

And he has set himself a fundraising feat every year since: in 2021 he swam a mile; the following year he climbed up Snowdon with his mum and dad John, a 42-year-old Arriva bus driver, and last year he cycled 22 miles from Southport to Liverpool.

This year he is combining all the various fundraising feats in one ‘to make it a massive achievement’.

Mum Eliza says: “Jacob is a competitive swimmer, but he wasn’t a runner, so he does have to work hard and push himself in all the challenges.

“He knows how important it is to achieve his goals.”

“The hardest one was running the length of a marathon,” admits Jacob. “But it makes me feel proud to get to my goal and know that I’m helping my community, and that I’m making a difference.”

With Gift Aid, Jacob has so far raised £10,000 and bought hampers for 200 families.

An Hour For Others is so proud of Jacob and all he has done, they have made him an ambassador; and he always helps to pack and deliver the hampers that he’s helped raise money for.

“Jacob’s birthday is December 22, so we’ve spent a few birthdays handing out hampers,” smiles Eliza, who adds that even four-year-old sister Amber gets involved with packing and delivering.

Jacob has set up a GoFundMe page with a target of £1,600 again this year.

“Again, if you include Gift Aid, that’s £2,000 which will buy hampers for 50 families,” says Eliza. “And it’s also about raising awareness of food poverty and inspiring others to think about their community and the people in it, and whether there’s anything they can do to help too.

“Local business supports An Hour For Others for the hampers. They get meat and vegetables from local suppliers at cost, and the same from Morrisons and Home Bargains, so the money goes further still.”

Jacob is well on his way to reaching this year’s target, but he’d like to smash it to make sure more families can have a happy Christmas.

And he’s already wondering about what he can do next year.

Eliza says: “I am so proud of what he is doing, he is an angel and incredibly thoughtful. If anyone can help him to help others, we’d be so grateful.”