Gok’s charity of the month – April: Ditch The Label
Happy April Fool’s Day everyone! No this is not a trick, it really it is my new charity of the month and these guys actually deal with something very personal to me and very serious!
You all know I hate bullies. I hate school bullies, work bullies, family bullies, I hate all of them. It doesn’t make you stronger, it doesn’t make you more important and it certainly doesn’t make you a better person. Every day I fight bullies. Whether thats the bullies of my past that still haunt me, the bullies on twitter, or helping amazing charities like Ditch the Label enable everyone to realise that nobody deserves to be a victim- we all deserve to be happy and I hope you join me in fighting for everyones happiness no matter who you are.
Please read on and see how you can help. loads of love xxx
About Ditch the Label
Our message is clear: It doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, gay, straight, asexual, disabled, skinny, curvy, old, young, interested in sports, work in a salon or feel good in drag – we think that you are amazing. Things like the colour of your skin, your sexuality, appearance, interests or disability should not define you. Together we can and will reduce the prominence and harmful effects of bullying within the UK’s education system.
Welcome to the UK’s most innovative anti-bullying charity. We are based in Brighton but work across the UK with schools, colleges, young people, parents and organisations towards our objective of helping to combat bullying and to promote the importance of equality and diversity.
Our own independent research of 1,843 UK students suggests that up to 69% of young people will experience bullying before their 18th birthday – this simply is not acceptable.
Together, we can promote the fact that it’s okay to be different and can empower young people into overcoming bullies and counteract the negative effects that bullying can cause. According to our Annual Bullying Survey 2013 – 23.5% of victims consider self harm as their only escape route and 17.3% will truant in order to avoid bullies.
What we Are Currently Doing
1. We produce groundbreaking and innovative research that is free and accessible to everybody
2. We develop innovative anti-bullying campaigns for schools and colleges
3. We operate the largest online peer-to-peer support community in the world
4. We provide skill-based workshops for local youths
5. We provide advice and features with role models
6. We utilise the power of mainstream and social media to raise awareness about the issue of equality and diversity
Can You Help?
We are a small, yet, rapidly growing anti-bullying charity and have to date indecently funded our own work. We are always looking for people to help with the growth and scaling of our charity – whether in the form of a fundraiser or donation or just by volunteering some of your time. Find out more on how you can help here: http://www.ditchthelabel.org/help-us/