I hate being the bearer of bad news but if you haven’t already noticed young people worldwide are having a pretty shitty time. Education fees are through the roof, jobs are few and far between and our stagnant schooling system is still training young people in clerical skills for jobs that no longer exist. So you’re probably wondering what all this has got to do with me running?

I love vInspired because vInspired care about young people. In 2011 I became the first person in my family to graduate from university but shortly after I hit rock bottom. I remember being sat in the job centre feeling like I had spent three years of my life and 21k worth of debt for nothing. I felt like a failure.

After sending out hundreds of CVs I eventually got my break as a Digital Intern at vInspired, which later became my full time position as a Digital Content Producer.

I get to regularly work with the thousands of inspiring young people that vInspired support each year, single parents, young homeless, young unemployed and those who have just lost their way.

Although vInspired may not directly feed starving children in Africa or save animals from abuse, what they do amazing well is empower young people through volunteering to believe in themselves enough to know that they can make a change.

There’s a quote that says, “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” I’m running for vInspired because I’ve seen first hand what happens when you care and give young people a platform to learn to believe in themselves. The world needs more souls on fire, only then can we tackle the bigger issues.

Here’s a link to my sponsorship page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CemYildiz

You can find out more about vinspired here: http://www.vinspired.org/about-us