Introduction

If you have a spare 40 minutes please do watch our launch event for this very crowdfunding platform, recorded on Dec 2nd 2016

Hi there,

My name is Tom, and I am the founder of Strength Restored. I would like to thank you for taking an interest in our crowdfunding campaign.

Strength Restored was birthed from my own eight years of bullying, and almost fourteen years working with young people.

I am passionate about helping young people reach their potential at this very crucial stage in their lives, enabling them to start adult life on the right footing. Unfortunately, bullying is one major stumbling block that can stop this happening, and I am not just talking about the target of bullying, but the person bullying as well. Though we deplore the actions of a bully, we understand that bullies more often than not bully because of some underlying issue. This is why part of our mission statement is to restore strength to people who are bullied.

With the help of the £20,0000 we wish to raise with your help, we plan to: build an infrastructure and programmes that can bring together young people and communities; run a training scheme to coach children and young people to defend targets against being bullied; run events for parents, guardians, and professionals to equip them on how to handle bullying.

But it is far more than that: I want Strength Restored to be a movement, an army of people raising their voices, letting the bullied know they are not alone.

I want Strength Restored to be an anti-bullying organization that goes deeper than all the other ones out there; to look at the social and psychological causes and effects of bullying, both from the perspective of the target of bullying, and the bully themselves; to empower generations of young people who witness bullying, so that they have the courage to step in and make a real difference in people's lives; to empower communities to be able and willing to confront bullying from within;to bridge the gap between targets of bullying, and local communities of young people with hearts to build them up, not tear them down; to coach youth workers and education professionals in a deeper understanding of bullying, and the damage it can do. To enact a restoration process to undo any damage that might have caused, or been caused by bullying.

With thirty children succeeding in killing themselves every three months in 2014 - the equivalent of a class a term, some as young as seven, I realised something needs to be done and needs to be done now!

I cannot do this alone, which is why I am asking for your help!