When I’ve mooted to friends the idea doing the North Coast 500 to raise some much-needed funding for TLG, I’ve had responses such as “what on earth are you thinking?” or “why would anybody in their right mind do that?”

Both of these are valid questions and prompted me to think carefully about my ‘why’. Why am I cycling 515 miles in 5 days? When I boil it right down, the motivation is twofold:

1 - To enable us to reach as many young people as we can

The reality is that as our programmes grow (and praise God, they are growing) we need to raise more money in order to fund them. All of our programmes - Early Intervention, Make Lunch and Education Centres – are heavily subsidised by the generous donations of our supporters. So, without continuous income, we can’t maintain the programmes, never mind grow them. We have a desire to reach as many struggling young people as we can, so if I can do my small bit to help support that reach, then I’m keen to do so.

2 - So that the challenge is enough of a struggle to make people stop and take notice

The word struggle is important. The young people we reach face inordinate struggles every day. You only have to spend a morning in one of our Education Centres to see the hurt that the young people carry with them. Whether it be in the form of a 15-year-old girl with low (to zero) self-confidence, the pain of observing a boy who has already lost all sense of hope by the age of 11, or seeing a teenager so crippled by the weight of being repeatedly told they will amount to nothing that they mistrust anybody who tries to help them or show faith in them, there is a significant need in our country today. There are tens of thousands of young people out there who need to feel the overwhelming compassion and support that is offered in a setting like a TLG Education Centre, where no matter how hard they try to push staff away, they will be treated with patience, respect and understanding. Where we understand that all behaviour is a form of communication. Where ultimately, we believe that love wins…in the end.

So, there you have it – that is my ‘why’. Thank you to anyone who decides to support me; whether it is in prayer, words of encouragement, or financially, thank you for your support.