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Benn & Violet

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Support my challenge to care for young Western Australians

Every school day across Western Australia, 250,000 students walk into a school where someone knows their name. In 2025, YouthCARE chaplains and volunteers showed up in 600 school communities and 38 sporting clubs across the state, from the Kimberley to the Great Southern.

They sat with students navigating hard things, served nearly 700,000 meals through Breakfast Club, delivered 30,760 wellbeing sessions, and supported more than 10,000 athletes and their families on the sidelines.

260,000 people. One consistent presence. Ridiculously good care.

Your support helps provide ridiculously good care to young Western Australians.

Riding 118km in May

This May I’m doing the Ridiculously Good challenge for YouthCARE and getting back on my bike, with my daughter Violet!

We’re aiming to ride 118km across the month, which represents the 117,840 chaplain meetings that happened last year with students, staff and families. across WA.

That’s a lot of conversations!

In my role I see this sort of thing all the time; chaplains showing up, being available, and helping people through whatever might be going on in their lives. It really makes a difference.

This one’s personal for us too. Our kids have had some really good support from their school chaplain, so we’ve seen it firsthand.

So yeah, a good excuse to get active again, do something together, and back something we actually care about!

If you want to support YouthCARE and what chaplains are doing in schools, we’d really appreciate it.

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

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$1,514

My Goal

$1,180

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My Achievements

Fundraising page

Updated Profile Pic

Added a Blog Post

Received 5 Donations

Received 10 Donations

Received 15 Donations

Received 20 Donations

Reached Goal

Increased Target

My Updates

Challenge Complete!

Thursday 28th May
WE DID IT!! Today Violet and I took on our final ride. An 8.99km ride out to Eaton fair, a few laps of the skate park and pump track, back along the creek and up to Hunter Park then home takes our total to 118.41km!! Thanks to a couple of recent donations we have cracked $1k with our total sitting at $1021, just $159 shy of our target of $1180!! Will you be the one who gets us there..?!

A lunchtime ride!

Monday 25th May
Given that Violet had a student free day today we took the opportunity to go for a lunchtime ride! We rode to her school and then home via the river and it was an absolutely beautiful day! Another 9.69km added to our total brings us to 109.42km, meaning we only have 8.58km left to ride and we have completed our challenge!! Another recent donation brings our total to $967, just $213 shy of our fundraising target, but with 6 days left to go there is still plenty of time to get over that line too!!

Lucky number 13!

Sunday 24th May
Today was our biggest ride yet as we headed out to the sports fields in Australind where we stopped at the park, kicked the the soccer ball and did a few laps of the skate park! We then returned home along the river the opposite way we rode yesterday for a total of 14.57km, bringing our total to 99.73km!! Only 18.27km left and we have hit our target!!

A Dozen Done!!

Saturday 23rd May
A crisp ride out to Treendale with some nice views of the river Nd an emergency toilet detour to Maccas today, and then home along the creek lets us add another 10.03km and brings our total to 85.16km! Just under 33km left to go and we will have reached our target!!

11th Ride, First Crash

Wednesday 20th May
Today we rode out to Treendale Maccas to say hello to Ellie again. We were *almost* home, only about a kilometre away, and Violet had her first proper crash, scratching her hand and a few other bumps and bruises. She shrugged it off pretty quickly, little champion! Another decent ride of 9.21km brings our total to 75.13km with 42.87km remaining, and our fundraising getting even closer to our goal at $957!!

Double digits!!

Tuesday 19th May
A nice ride to Eaton fair, a few laps around the pump track and then back home today lets us add another 7.6km, bringing our total to 65.92km AND some more generous donations brings our fundraising to $902!! Just a little over 52km left to go!!

Ride 9, feeling fine!!

Sunday 17th May
Today Violet and I smashed out our biggest ride yet, 13.12km!! We started from home, along the creek, out to Eaton fair and a few laps of the skate park and pump track, them down to and along the Collie river, back to Millbridge and back along the creek home!! Our total is now 58.32, with just under 60km left to go!! Thanks again for those who have donated recently, our fundraising total is now $796!!

Ride 8 was GREAT!

Friday 15th May
Another ride around Millbridge and we stopped by 2 more Street Libraries! 6.16km today brings our total to 45.2km, leaving us just under 73km left to ride! And a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated, so far we have raised $617!!

Back at it!

Wednesday 13th May
We've had a bit on the last few days which has meant we haven't been able to get any rides in but we were able to add a few more kilometres to our total today. 

A fun ride around Millbrook and we discovered a street library that we hadn't noticed before - even though we've ridden past it at least 4 or 5 times!!

5.21km today brings our total to 39.04km so far!

6th Ride

Friday 8th May
We missed a couple of afternoons due to Violet having other things on but we were back on the bikes today, with Sarah AND Fletcher joining us for a cruise around Millbridge!

Another 5.85km brings our total to 33.83km!

5 Down!

Wednesday 6th May
Today Violet and I took a ride in to Treendale Maccas to visit Ellie at work, and may have scored some free chocolate sundaes for our efforts!

8.02km today brings our total to 27.98km, with 90.02km remaining. 

Huge thanks to everyone who has donated, we are currently at $369!!

4th Ridiculously Good Ride!

Tuesday 5th May
This afternoon Sarah joined us for a bigger ride around some of Millbridge and Eaton. 

We found some nice trails around some local wetlands and ended up out near the end of Pratt Road, then home via Eaton Drive and along Millars Creek. 

6.43km added today, bringing us just shy of 20km, at 19.96km!

3rd Ride Done!

Monday 4th May
An enjoyable ride around Millbridge on Sunday afternoon gave us another 5.84km to add to our total!

2nd Ride Done!

Saturday 2nd May
It was a chilly one this morning, 9⁰C when we set of but we set a brisk pace and warmed up quickly!

A nice ride along the creek, a stop for a breather and a quick play at a playground, and then home. 

3.73km done today!

And We're Off!!

Saturday 2nd May

Our challenge has officially started! Violet and I got the bikes out this afternoon for our first loop around Millbridge to kick off our 118km goal.

  • Distance: 3.93km (114.07km remaining)

  • Time: 24 minutes

It was fun getting out there today! Violet is really excited to be part of it all, so as soon as we could this afternoon, we headed out for our first ride. 

A huge THANK YOU to the legends who have already donated. We’ve reached $206 so far, which is an awesome result for Day One.

Stay tuned for more updates!

- Benn & Violet

Thank you to my Sponsors

$127.34

Dan & Mark

THANK

$127.34

Luke Marinoni

Well done Violet for putting up with your Dad for so many Nike rides 😁

$106.12

Eugene

Go Benn & Violet ! Super effort !

$106.12

Stephen Foster

Good luck Benn and Violet in supporting a wonderful cause!

$92.15

Grannyshrub

Just had to get you to your total xxxxx

$54.84

Fletch Gladden

Awesome thing to do. Good luck. ❤️

$54.84

Linda Blyth

So wonderful picturing doing this together as Dad and daughter - go well- regards Linda

$54.84

Grannyshrub

What a great cause, and so lovely that you can do this together and make memories

$54.84

Anonymous

Fantastic job. Well done 👍👍👍.

$54.84

Material Coffee Girls Gladden

From my Tuesday morning coffee friends - Erica, Sushi and Wendy xxx.

$54.84

Skippings Family

$54.84

Kristee Jolly

Go Violet, you're the best! Tell ya Dad he's alright too, I guess

$54.84

Christina Squires

Happy riding.

$50

Andrew Main

$50

Lauren And Saffy Rendell

Well done Uncle Benn and Violet, you smashed it!! We love you!! Xxx

$39

Dave & Dani Parkinson

GLAAAAAAAAADEN!!! Awesome work you mob! Love D&D

$34.96

Dee Gladden

Great work guys. Well done 👍 xx.

$33.87

Lily

Go Team Gladden!

$33.15

Todd K.

$28.43

Benn Gladden

$28.43

Verity Murray

Good on you Ben. What special memories for you and Violet!

$28.43

Suzanne Mcdonald

$28.43

Josh Harkins

So good to see good luck Legends go smash that goal!

$28.43

Ellie

YAYYYY

$28.43

Alan Wyeth

Well done guys you’ve done amazingly

$25

Anonymous

$22.60

Sam Testa

$17.66

Christian Kemp

Well done to you both. Doing an amazing thing!! ❤️❤️❤️

$17.66

Tracey

This is from Auntie Tracey 😄 who visited me today 😁. Xx

$11.80

Kirsty Jacobs

Go you champion humans! Love this! ✨❤️

$10

Sam Halpin