VIVA!’S VEGAN HEROES

Viva! Take Heroes a Bow

first up in our Viva! Heroes roll call is the truly remarkable 14-year-old Henry Read-Denness. Henry is raising money for our campaigns by walking an aweinspiring 1,000 miles! He is also fasting one day a week from 9am to 5pm “to symbolise the animals left without food and water for hours ” .

Henry went vegetarian in April 2019 for environmental reasons after seeing climate protests in the media. He then saw Viva!’ s social media posts, amongst others, revealing how badly animals are treated in the meat, egg and dairy industries and that persuaded him to go vegan three months later. Henry got his dad to take part in this year ’ s Veganuary and says although he ’ s changing his diet, he ’ s “too lazy to do it full time!” . Dad doesn ’t like cooking so Henry often cooks vegan meals for them both which he very much enjoys!

Henry decided to fundraise as the volunteering component of his Duke of Edinburgh Award and after ordering our free Everybody ’ s Going Vegan pack, and then watching Hogwood: a modern horror story, he decided we ’d make the perfect recipient for his fundraising efforts. Thank you, Henry!

You can hear Henry talk about his fundraising on our June Viva! Podcast minisode and he will also be featured on our new Viva! Gen pages on our website to inspire other young vegans. To see Henry ’ s progress or to donate in support of him, visit his Just Giving page: justgiving.com/fundraising/henry-read1 Action Challenge run a series of exceptionally demanding fundraising events and in January this year, we partnered with them. We have had some truly incredible fundraisers sign up to these challenges for Viva! for summer 2021 and we can ’t wait to cheer them on!

Paul Youd, Alex Passmore and James Gibson – all from the Runner Beings running group – will be taking part in the gruelling South West Coast 2 Coast Challenge on July 24-25, and Simon Chappell will be joining them for the Exe Valley Half Marathon.

Paul Youd – who is just shy of his 84th birthday! – is an absolute powerhouse and inspiration. He simply has no off switch when it comes to raising money for good causes. Last year he raised money for our friends at Dean farm Trust by running 100km around his back garden during lockdown. He also raised £800 for the YMCA and another local homeless charity by doing 1,000 press-ups in an hour! If you want to support the inimitable Paul, please donate via his Just Giving page: justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-youd3. fellow Runner Being Alex Passmore says: “Having had no experience running, my good friend Paul Youd convinced me to sign up for an Ultra Marathon (102km) over two days. Through incremental gains, I hope to show the health benefits of a plant-based diet and raise money for Viva! – a charity that saves animals. ” Donate on Alex ’ s Just Giving page: justgiving.com/fundraising/alex-passmore1

Another Ultra Marathon runner is James Gibson, who says: “I’ m completing this testing run for Viva!, whose cause is close to my heart. I hope that by completing this Ultra we will be able to raise some vital funding for their campaigns ” . You can show James some support by donating here: justgiving.com/fundraising/james-gibson33

Inspired by Paul, Alex and James, and as a keen amateur runner himself, Simon Chappell is running the Exe Valley Half Marathon, which coincides with the final leg of the Coast 2 Coast Challenge, so they can cross the finish line together! Simon has been vegan for the past couple of years after completing Veganuary with his family and watching several documentaries to remind him of the truth about farming and the impact it has on the environment – the original spark for which he credits to a Blue Peter book when he was a child!

Simon is also a GP who advocates for vegan diets and is part of the Plant-Based Health Professionals organisation, spearheaded by Dr. Shireen Kassam.

Aside from these very physical fundraising challenges, we also have hugely generous donors Kit and Isabelle who are donating their wedding fund to us! This is the wonderful message on their fundraising page: “Our wedding is far from being a traditional one so it would be inadequate of us to ask our guests for a conventional wedding gift. Help us end animal cruelty by giving to Viva!, a charity dedicated to promoting veganism. We know that all of you may not yet believe in such [a] cause, but remember that you ’ re doing it for us. "

Kit and Isabel have raised an incredible £868 for us and we are so grateful. A big, sincere thank you. We also have supporter Michelle King taking part in the notoriously demanding Tough Mudder Challenge in August. Michelle says: “In the past few lockdowns I started to really reflect on my lifestyle and decided to be proactive with my physical activity and healthy eating as I' m partial to all the delicious vegan junk food available! I' ve lost 30lbs so far. Tough Mudder Challenge is another way to push myself. ”

Incredible work Michelle! Thank you so much for deciding to support Viva!. If you ’ re able to make a donation to support Michelle, her facebook fundraiser page is bit.ly/3jWjc2i

If you ’d like to become a Viva! Hero and think you have a great fundraising idea, please get in touch! Just email Jess at jess@viva.org.uk and she will work with you to help your fundraising challenge or event become a huge success!

finally, we also want to say a huge thanks to all our amazing Viva! Heroes for your time, your hard graft and dedication. This includes our social media birthday fundraisers, our stall volunteers, raffle ticket sellers and everyone else who is fundraising for us to help keep our vital work going. We couldn ’t do what we do without you – every penny is appreciated by us and the animals.