Week 49 - Kidscape / Stonewall

This is one monumental challenge that I'm sponsoring this week.  Ben Smith grew up in boarding schools where iphe was subject to years of physical and mental bullying.  The abuse was so bad he attempted to take his own life on two occasions.  In his early thirties he came out as gay and got into running as a way of reducing stress.  He started running marathons, then decided to attempt a world record to raise money for anti-bullying charities.  He is currently 258 marathons into a challenge to run 401 in 401 consecutive days.

The two charities he is raising money for are Kidscape and Stonewall.  Kidscape was started in 1985 and works to reduce bullying among 9-16 year olds.  They provide advice to young people, parents and professionals, run anti-bullying projects in schools and assertiveness workshops for those who have been bullied along with their parents or carers.

Stonewall have been campaigning since 1989 for equal rights for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.  Among their successful campaigns are those to repeal Section 28 (which prevented schools from talking freely about homosexuality in case they were accused of "promoting" it), lifting the ban on LGB people serving in the military and securing first civil partnerships, then same-sex marriages.  In 2015 they added campaigns for trans people to their remit.

Links
The 401 Challenge
Kidscape
Stonewall