Astriid Challenge – Midway status report

As participants in the Astriid Challenge have reached the midpoint of the month it feels the right time to tell you about the status of the Challenge and some of the wonderful things we can do as a result of your fundraising.
For anyone who has suffered a chronic illness the opportunity to retrain and get themselves up to date with market skills is critical. As such our partnerships with organisations such as With You With Me and Salesforce are playing through in a number of training courses that we are able to make available to our candidates as they seek to skill up, with capabilities such as cybersecurity and digital marketing. With the support of our challengers and sponsors, we are now able to take a step closer to the ‘Astriid Training Academy’.
This, in turn, has brought us to the attention of the UK government department responsible for helping people back into work, the DWP. We are now in discussion about providing this training and support on a formal basis to candidates who have disability or long-term health conditions; it’s the first formal recognition we have had by the government.
Charities too have picked up on what Astriid is seeking to achieve; we have held ‘back to work’ webinars for sufferers of Lyme disease and PoTS in recent weeks, and a new partnership with Parkinson’s UK is being developed to help support 10,000 sufferers of that illness who are of working age.
Back to the Astriid Challenge – here is the status:

15,000km covered, 512 participants so far, and we have passed our first £10,000 milestone last week. Overall targets are 40,000km and £50,000 by the end of the challenge, so a way to go!

So whilst you are running, cycling, or hiking your way around the world, we want you to know that every dollar or pound you raise is helping people with long-term health conditions to restore normality to their life, building their confidence to return to work. Thank you.
Steve Shutts
Steve Shutts CEO