To help raise funds for our Emergency COVID-19 Appeal, a group of five intrepid volunteers recently completed a virtual ‘climb’ of Mount Everest – entirely from home!
As part of the challenge, our volunteers Maya, Ella, Rhiannon, Andrew and Gwyn each climbed 11,614 stairs (the equivalent of 700 flights of stairs), to collectively scale the 8,848 metres of Mount Everest. Along the way, the team shared some great pictures and stories documenting their climbing experience – which we hear was a lot harder than expected! – and even achieved four pieces of fantastic coverage in the press. We were also fortunate enough to have Megan, who runs the hiking blog Mountains with Megan, join the challenge midway from Idaho, USA.
We are delighted that the team collectively raised £4,850, with Gift Aid increasing the total to £5728, and are incredibly grateful for their efforts.
These funds will make a huge difference to the lives of thousands of children and families grappling with the impact of the coronavirus in Nepal. It’s vitally important to remember that as lockdown measures continue to be eased in the UK, the impact of the nationwide lockdown in Nepal continues to compromise access to even the basic necessities of food, water and shelter.
As schools in Nepal remain closed for the foreseeable future, the rates of child marriage, domestic violence and suicide rates are all increasing, and many of the poorest families are struggling to survive with no income and very limited or even no government support.
Funds raised from our COVID-19 appeal, including initiatives such as the Virtual Climb of Everest, will help us to address some of these challenges. So far, we have delivered direct food and hygiene support to 240 families; counselling, advice and guidance to over 1,000 of the poorest families; crucial supplies of PPE and COVID-19 training to the staff working tirelessly in 10 urban health centres and our rehabilitation shelter for street-connected boys continues to provide 24/7 care for 19 boys.
Fundraising is an ever increasing challenge for all charities and more so in the context of a global crisis and we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support we have received over the last few months, and are hugely grateful to those who have donated particularly to our COVID-19 appeal which so far has raised over £20,000.
We are in the process of planning a number of exciting fundraising events to help further boost our relief efforts in Nepal, and will soon be in touch with news on how to get involved.