An eight-year-old girl is running a half marathon to raise money for her football team to buy new away kits.
Luna Dumigan plays for Winton Wanderers Eagles, and has been playing football since she was 5 years old.
Through her football journey, she now plays for two Eccles-based football teams, Winton Wanderers Eagles and Winton Wanderers Kestrels.
And it is clear that Luna has a lot of love for her clubs, raising £1400 on two previous fundraisers of a sponsored 10k bike ride to buy home kits for Winton Wanderers Kestrels and to become the kit sponsor, then an 8.5 mile walk this summer, to renew her sponsorship for the next two years.
Luna is now planning to run a half marathon over seven days, in the hopes of raising £700 for her other team Winton Wanderers Eagles, so they can receive new away kits.
Steven Young is the joint lead of girls football for Winton Wanderers, and met Luna when giving talks and taster sessions to get girls involved in football.
The young football enthusiast joined one of his sessions in a Disney Princess football kit and new trainers.
Luna’s actions have been well received, with Steve saying that the club has dedicated the kit’s logo to the 8-year-old after she became the sponsor, as he said: “One of the coaches designed a logo for her of a moon to signify her name and a little girl going across the moon on a push bike with her name underneath, which the Kestrels have proudly worn for two years.
“It’s so hard trying to get sponsorships at a club our size with 60/70 teams. Luna embodies the community spirit and ethos as a club.
“She plays for the Eagles and Kestrels, the Kestrels were the only team that didn’t have a sponsor so they were still having to wear bibs.”
However, this didn’t hold her back, as he said “She did a fundraiser bike ride to get the kits, then she wanted to remain a sponsor so she renewed her sponsorship by completing the eight mile run this summer.”
He continued: “She’s joined the Eagles, who haven’t got an away kit and there are a lot of teams that wear orange so we are back to bibs.”
“As Luna is so small she hates wearing bibs as they end up like dresses on her.
“We have a two year rolling cycle for sponsorships at that age and we might end up replacing half of them because of growth spurts so without Luna, the teams wouldn’t have kits.”
Speaking on what Luna’s efforts means to the coaches, he said: “It means the world to us because we do it to make a difference.
“Most of the committee members grew up on Winton estate and we want to make a difference to kids lives.
“When we see the efforts she is going to to give back it shows we are making a difference, which we take great pride in to build this community. ”
Luna said she wanted to ‘do something even bigger’ and as she is currently enjoying running, and decided to challenge herself even further by participating in a half marathon to do something she enjoys, while also raising money for her club.
Richard Smith, Luna’s coach for her Sunday team at Winton Wanderers Eagles praised her for her challenge, saying: “I couldn’t be prouder of Luna and can attest to her dedication and talent.
“She has already raised over £1400 for her first team’s kits and now is trying to raise an additional £700.
“Her commitment to her sport and her teammates is inspiring and she is a future star in football to watch out for.”
“The club doesn’t get any funding so every bit of fundraising is massively important,” Richard added.
Richard detailed how the funds for Luna’s previous fundraisers where she raised over £1400, helped the team, as he said: “That money raised bought two full kits for her first team.
“So without her they wouldn’t have any kits at all and it raised a lot of awareness as well and the team got more members.
“The team has 13 girls so that will get them 13 sets of shirts, shorts and socks, all branded with the clubs name and logo, and her special custom logo for Luna as she is the sponsor.”
Luna said: “I love playing football, it makes me so happy, one day I want to play for England and Manchester city just like Lauren Hemp.”
At a recent presentation and sponsor night, the club awarded Luna with a gift with all of her favourite sweets to thank her for her sponsorship.
She has currently raised £60 for her new challenge out of the fundraiser’s £700 target, with a link to GoFundMe being found here.
Recent Comments