15 Jul One Bloke One Backpack

A young person becomes homeless every 4 minutes.

Hangar .41 Ltd is proud to be supporting Keith Yates in his One Bloke One Backpack fundraising campaign to raise money for LandAid, a charity dedicated to ending youth homelessness and rehabilitating those affected.

An organisation very close to Keith’s heart, he has set out to undertake a weeklong challenge walking the Norfolk coast path which equates to 135km over 7 days. During this mammoth task, he’ll be carrying all his accommodation, bedding and clothing on his back, completing 25km every day for a week. See his route starting from Hunstanton here:

Day 1: Hunstanton – Burnham Deepdale – 22km
Day 2: Burnham Deepdale – Wells-Next-The-Sea – 18km
Day 3: Wells-Next-The-Sea – Beeston Regis – 27km
Day 4: Beeston Regis – Mundesley – 18km
Day 5: Mundesley – Happisburgh – 10km
Day 6: Happisburgh – Hemsby – 19km
Day 7: Hemsby – Hopton-On-Sea – 21km

In 2013, Keith, his new wife and 4 young daughters faced the prospect of homelessness. Three weeks after his wedding, Keith lost the use of his legs. A good day was crutches, a bad day put him in a wheelchair. During this four year period, Keith lost his job and very nearly, his home

The young family was 3 days away from being homeless.

In the UK alone, 135,800 young people were or homeless or at risk of homelessness in 2023. Over 50% of these people cite family or friends no longer being able to accommodate them as a reason for their homelessness. They rely entirely on organisations like LandAid and fundraisers like Keith.

For over 30 years, LandAid has strived towards ending youth homelessness. They can only achieve this through the help of their fundraisers. When Keith approached us to see what support Hangar .41 could give, we were quick to put our minds to work and pens to paper to create a social media strategy that would help him reach more people and raise even more money for this cause.

Hangar .41 founder Ben Littlewood said “I’m proud to be supporting Keith’s One Bloke One Backpack mission. Youth homelessness is a real issue that you can see every day. LandAid does a great job getting these young people off the streets by offering shelter initially, then providing longer term housing including starter kits (cooking utensils, bedding etc), training & mental health counselling to create life changing rehabilitation. However, they can’t do it alone. Dedicated and passionate people like Keith drive their good work. If Hangar .41 is able to help in any way, of course we’re going to.”

In 2021, LandAid helped 3,569 young people, provided £2,000,000 to charities and created 1,025 bedspaces. The crisis is only getting worse. Now is the time for us to come together and stamp out youth homelessness once and for all.

Keith Yates said “Through my role as a Photographer for CoStarGroup CoStarUK, I’m privileged to have been able to work with LandAid for the last 5 years & am very fortunate to be in a position where I can invest my own funds into OneBloke|OneBackpack.

The idea was brought to life by my youngest Daughter, Dempsey as we took sunrise photos whilst on a family holiday on the Norfolk Coast last Summer.

Initially I was going to stay in B&B’s, Airbnb’s etc. but this seemed a bit disingenuous when I thought about the people I’m trying to help.

The planning that has gone into this endeavour have been way beyond anything I expected from booking campsites to pitch up at after each day, contacting suppliers, potential Headline sponsors, media outlets & getting clothing ‘merched up’

We are very nearly there now & my backpack containing everything I need will weigh somewhere between 15-20kg.

For a bloke who’s just turned 51, it won’t be easy & there will be moments where my resilience & fortitude will be called upon but this is a challenge that I will face head on.

Please do consider parting with your hard earned cash to assist those less fortunate who were not granted a great start to life.

Thanks so much to all who have donated so far & to Ben and Hangar.41″

If you are able to donate to the One Bloke One Backpack campaign, please do. Keith sets off 27th July and is currently at £1,404 of a £5,000 fundraising target so there is still have plenty of money to raise: Click Here