On Friday the 1st of July 2022, eight volunteers from local mental health charity Kick Start FC will be embarking on a 65 mile fundraising walk across London.
Created with the purpose of ‘Tackling The Mind’, Kick Start FC are using the power of football to offer support to men and women who experience episodes of poor mental health and lack social inclusion.
During the walk, the team will be using all 14 football grounds in the Premier League and EFL as their checkpoints. The walk will kick off early Friday morning at AFC Wimbledon and finish late Saturday evening at the home of football, Wembley Stadium. The team are hoping to raise a minimum of £1000 to open up a Kick Start FC Social Hub. The Kick Start FC Social Hub will be a warm, welcoming space for people in the local community to come and have a tea or a coffee and feel comfortable in talking about their mental health. The hub will also provide people the opportunity to learn about mental health and engage in wellbeing activities.
“We have done some amazing work on the football pitch, but now we want to try and take that success and do more to help people off of it. We have been keen to open up our own social hub for months as it will allow us to engage with everyone on a more intimate level. Mental Health doesn’t discrimate and can effect anyone no matter what their team colours are. We will continue to support as many people as possible whilst raising awareness of mental health“, Michael Cunningham founder of Kick Start FC told us.
Kick Start FC have been in contact with a number of football clubs about the work that they have been doing and how they using football to help people that are affected by mental health. Many clubs including Arsenal, Tottenham and QPR are inviting the team into their stadiums for checkpoint photos. They have also received words of encouragement from footballing personalities such as football pundit Alan Smith and ex Tottenham Manager Harry Redknapp via video messages. To donate to the Kick Start FC Fundraising Walk please visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ksfclondonwalk . Follow their social media pages for live updates over the course of the two days.
