Many of us are fortunate enough to be equipped with the necessary skills to overcome difficult challenges that arise in our lives. Often we can attribute these life skills to our parents, loved ones and mentors. These lessons and support can often be the difference between succeeding and failing in the face of adversity. At The Running Charity we offer our members a supportive community that enables them to put in place the skills and support networks that most people can take for granted.
The Running Charity and its partners are under increasing pressure to support more individuals with a wider range of support needs. Cuts to front-line services has seen more young people slipping through the net into homelessness, a recent report produced by Crisis has stated that rough sleeping has increased by 55% since the last election. With proposed cuts to housing benefit for young people the nation is walking into a homelessness epidemic with ramifications that could be felt for generations.
Whichever government comes to power in the coming days, together we must find a way to address how we support the most vulnerable in our communities. It is unacceptable that in the sixth largest economy in the world we have such levels of inequality in our society. There are many ways that we need to invest in our communities but the Crisis report states a lack of empathy shown to many of the young people that presented to their local authority as homeless. When did so many people stop caring?
We live in a far more unequal society than most of us believe; the gap between rich and poor is increasing, institutionalised sexism, homophobia and racism still prevails in many of our social structures, whilst disabled people and the elderly are consistently discriminated against.
The average lifespan of a homeless person is just 47 years old. Our crucial work looks to divert our members away from this life at the earliest opportunity before homelessness can become compounded with other multiple support needs such as poor physical health, substance dependencies and decreased mental health.
Let’s do more than just vote today, let’s demand our governments do more for the most vulnerable and let us show compassion and empathy on a daily basis to anyone that needs a bit of help.
You can volunteer with The Running Charity or the many other incredible organisations we work with by emailing us at info@therunningcharity.org.
Happy running,
Alex Eagle
@mralexeagle
Feature photo | Tom Miles