sean gaskell, bath
Sean currently lives in a tent and sells the
Big Issue full time. Now 26, he had a very difficult childhood. His
parents divorced and his mum remarried but Sean didn’t have a good
relationship with his step father and moved out of the family home at 16. He
travelled, then sofa surfed but when he returned to Bath he turned to The Big
Issue.
“Without the Big Issue, I might not be here,” he says. It has been a life support and life opportunity to him. He has done lots of voluntary work, supporting organisations such as Fairbridge, a national charity supporting young people aged 13-25 to develop the confidence, motivation and skills they need to turn their lives around.
But Sean is turning his own life around and is now looking to enrol on a course and hopefully become a youth worker – he also wants to get the ID he needs: a passport, a bank account and his own place.
Sean has also become a star in his local community by giving talks to schools about his life. He told one school he was doing the London to Paris Bike Ride to raise funds for the The Big Issue Foundation in July. They were so impressed, they have been helping him raise the required sponsorship money.
Amazingly, of the 100 participants taking part in the ride, Sean is the highest fundraiser, raising over £1800 in sponsorship – a truly outstanding achievement! Sean says “I just wanted to give something back to the Big Issue Foundation, they have helped me so much”
Sean has done all this and yet, he still doesn’t own he’s own bike!
For further information on how you can help vendors like Sean please click here
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