Organisers of the annual End-to-End charity walk celebrated their 20th anniversary with a bang - by breaking many previous records.

Bermuda End-to-End’s charity walk, held on May 5, raised more than $250,000, the highest amount in the event’s history.

The money raised this year went to five charities: Bermuda Autism Support and Education, Meals on Wheels and Open Airways, which were all given cheques for $55,000 and Keep Bermuda Beautiful and Raleigh International, which both received $27,500.

President of Bermuda Autism Support and Education, Thea Furbert, believes the money will help improve the facilities and programmes available for autistic children on the Island.

She said: “In 2006 we decided we need to do a little more for children with autism. So in 2006 we started plans to open an early intervention centre in Bermuda. This centre will provide intense therapy to children in Bermuda under the autism spectrum.

“Currently there are families in Bermuda who are paying $50,000 a year to pay for those services for their children and they are paying for that out of their own pockets,” she said. “These children need over 30 hours a week of intense therapy, so this centre will be able to provide them with these services so their lives will be beneficial in the future and give them the need to function in the community.”

In addition to raising $250,000, Bermuda End-to-End was proud to have a record amount of participants, more than 2,500, involved in walking, cycling or swimming their way across the Island.

The top fundraiser for the event was Pamela Barit Nolan, who got half of her pledges from using End-to-End’s new online pledging system. This allowed her to get “a much broader reach”, including pledges from as far away as Hawaii and Switzerland.

Ms Nolan, the Executive Director at The Centre on Philanthropy raised $10,300 and told The Royal Gazette: “It does pull my own heart because I am dedicated to this sector— End-to-End and Centre of Philanthropy are both dedicated to helping others— so it was just so easy for us to help each other for this event”.