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You’ve got to be inventive if you’re going to stay afloat in these days of dwindling funding opportunities; surviving as a small charity is harder than ever. Thankfully though, ‘creative’ is one of the things we seem to do best at Golddigger Trust, the 7 year old Sheffield charity I work two days a week for - we work to raise esteem, confidence and health in the relationships and aspirations of teenagers, convinced that increasing self-esteem is fundamental to addressing most negative behaviour patterns amongst young people.
...So that’s why, when feeling a bit down and like funding
opportunities/organisations were saying to me, ‘On yer bike…’ I took them literally and
decided to get out there and do something proactive - I decided to ride the whole breadth of the country – in just one day! Well, the charity is about going to great lengths (metaphorically) to support vulnerable young people - so why not do it literally?!
Normally, folk take 3 to 5 days to ride the
200+km from the Irish Sea at Whitehaven, across the peaks of Cumbria to the
freezing North Sea at Sunderland. Having enlisted the company of a tri-athlete
friend of mine, Matt Shorrock, this leisurely fundraiser soon became grueling 12-hour
endurance beast – and I had to work hard to quell ideas of a half-marathon when
we got back too! Currently I am being cojoled to consider a 10km swim next year!
Er, no.
...OK, maybe.
This is looking ominous...
We called in the help of Ecclesall Church Youthworker Alistair Stevenson to drive us up in my car so that we didn’t have to cycle back to Whitehaven to get it afterwards ;-) which was a massive help, and gave us much needed support along the way.
We called in the help of Ecclesall Church Youthworker Alistair Stevenson to drive us up in my car so that we didn’t have to cycle back to Whitehaven to get it afterwards ;-) which was a massive help, and gave us much needed support along the way.
The trip went amazingly well; the weather
was hard but not prohibitive, and fuelled by ridiculous amounts of energy
drinks and homemade flapjack we felt superhuman; effortlessly gobbling up the miles
of steep climb; feeling epic …and I’m pretty sure looking that way too (LOL!).
Of course, pride comes before a fall, and the success of the challenge was
questioned right at the end, as the failing light at Sunderland docks hid
treacherous moss that wiped us out completely - literally within meters of the
lapping shore. Thankfully we got
away with just a few small gashes and, trying hard to ignore Alistair’s
amusement at our comedy ‘slide finish’ we took the all important victory
photograph with our front wheels dipped in the surf. There is a video of our
exploits on our Facebook page…
Heartfelt and passionately sincere thanks
to everyone who has donated so very generously – at time of going to press we
have raised nearly £2000 – please do continue to give – every penny is so
useful to us – we waste nothing in our austere efforts to make the funds we
have stretch as far as possible! The money is going towards starting a Boys
Project to raise self-esteem and confidence in teenage boys and aspiration and
hope for their futures; and in particular to write and pilot a boys course for
use in Sheffield schools and youth groups; and generally raise awareness about
Sexual Exploitation. Between
2002/03 and 2007/08, the annual number of boys counseled by ChildLine more than
doubled, rising from 24,823 to 58,311 and boys’ calls about loneliness, sadness
and isolation have increased more than fivefold. Raising self-esteem and confidence in identity is core to
addressing so many statistics like this.
Please do help us to help them.
You can still donate online at www.charitygiving.co.uk/golddiggerc2c Please do get involved and give anything you can afford :-)
Over the last several years Golddigger
Trust has worked with just girls – our 8 week course has gone down extremely
well in schools and youth groups (and now as a residential weekend) to the
point where our Sexual Exploitation work has an excellent reputation with the
council and other service providers and are regularly referred serious cases
from Social Services and Taking Stock (the official body in Sheffield) for
one-to-one mentoring and intervention.
This has brought us to a juncture where we
want to be able to provide the same level of provision for boys – for ALL boys,
but also especially for those from very vulnerable backgrounds, being so
acutely aware of the dangers of sexual exploitation in particular.
For more information about the charity and
our work do visit our website www.golddigger.org.uk
or Facebook Page read our blog at http://golddiggertrust.tumblr.com/
or contact us at info@golddigger.org.uk
For the ladies out there we also have a
pre-loved clothes sale this Thursday in Ecclesall – please do come and grab
yourself a designer label bargain! Details are on our Facebook page.
And for the guys – we are starting a League
of Man – monthly competitive events and league table throughout the year!
Contact us for details or search ‘Golddigger League of Man’ on Facebook!
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