Stride with Pride to fundraise for Shelter Birmingham

Shelter Birmingham has announced ‘Stride with Pride’; a daytime walk, raising awareness and funds for the charity, to take place on World Homelessness Day. The event that plans to map three cities in the UK — Birmingham, Manchester, and London — will bring together community in a group walk, pinpointing local queer landmarks.

In Birmingham, the 5K walk will begin in Hippodrome Square outside the theatre that has played host to a variety of productions telling queer stories, including: Kinky Boots, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. From there, those joining the walk will pass: Chung Ying Chinatown (Wrottesley Street),  Missing Bar (Hurst Street), The Gay Village Gateway (Bromsgrove Street/ Wynner House Building), The Eden Bar (Sherlock Street), Nightingale Club (Kent Street), The Fox (Lower Essex Street), The Village Inn (Lower Essex Street) and the Birmingham HIV and AIDS Memorial before concluding back at the Hippodrome starting point.

The event aims to raise awareness of the LGBTQ+ community’s unique experiences of homelessness and the housing emergency, celebrate community, and generate vital funds for Shelter. LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately represented in the housing emergency with 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives. This statistic rises to 1 in 4 when surveying LGBTQ+ people aged 16-25. 

The statistics are similar for trans people alone, 25% of whom say they have experienced homelessness; double the national average. What’s more, there have been a 33% surge in demand for LGBTQ+ housing support services in a single year.

As part of the event, Shelter will partner with existing LGBTQ+ groups across the three cities, including in the West Midlands, Dykes Who Hike, whose previous fundraising efforts brought in a brilliant £20,000. 

Shelter’s Stride with Pride walk takes place in Birmingham, on Saturday 10th October. The entry fee is £5 (plus Eventbrite fees). The charity has a fundraising goal of £75 per participant, which can be raised individually or as part of a group, through Just Giving Fundraising pages connected to Shelter’s campaign.