Kilimanjaro For Kids 2000
Before we move to my Mission Statement, it is not all about nor only about work. I was one of the twenty-eight Naples residents that undertook the challenge of a lifetime by climbing to the summit (19,335 feet) of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
The journey raised awareness of the children’s needs plus over $300,000 for the then Children’s Hospital of SW Florida (now the Golisano Children’s Hospital of SW Florida). We also raised $15,000 plus 800 pounds of goods for a children’s shelter in Moshi, Tanzania. The shelter houses abused or abandoned children as well as children orphaned by the African AIDS epidemic.
I was one of the twenty-eight Naples residents that undertook the challenge of a lifetime by climbing to the summit (19,335 feet) of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania as a fundraiser for the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.
The journey raised awareness of the children’s needs plus over $300,000 for the then Children’s Hospital of SW Florida (now the Golisano Children’s Hospital of SW Florida). We also raised $15,000 plus 800 pounds of goods for a children’s shelter in Moshi, Tanzania. The shelter houses abused or abandoned children as well as children orphaned by the African AIDS epidemic.
What a privilege … the day we completed our descent and got to meet the children and spend time with them was THE highlight of the trip for me.
On the photo on the left, Climber Chris Braun and a boy from the shelter play an impromptu game of soccer in the dirt courtyard that contains open-air classrooms. Although it was short, the visit was a moving experience for the exhausted climbers.