Back in 2011, four guys from Farnham decided it was time to take some drastic steps and set themselves a real challenge to help raise money for their charity, Help Autistic Children. After much deliberation it was decided that climbing Kilimanjaro was to be the next goal to raise money.
Mark Powis, Paul Findley, Mark Nicholas and Gareth Roberts set about getting fit and training hard for this notoriously dangerous trek. They climbed from base camp to the top of the world’s highest free standing, snow covered equatorial mountain, standing at 6km, in just seven days! At the time the recession had hit hard so they were looking to try something a little bit more adventurous – and it worked!
They managed to raise an amazing £50,000 with funds put to good use at Farnham Challengers, for a new soft play room and Freemantles School, a Surrey based specialist provision for autistic children, who were presented with a new minibus.
Mark Powis said “My autistic daughter Jemima, then 13 years old, was the catalyst for setting up our small charity and we continue to raise funds for various organisations connected to autism through our fundraising events.”
On reaching the summit, on this difficult and dangerous trek, all four men knew they had achieved something they would never forget. Paul Findley commented “Looking down from the highest point there was a huge sense of achievement and we all felt incredibly proud of that. It was an emotional journey and of course physically draining – but well worth it for our charity Help Autistic Children.
These four men continue raising money for HAC through a variety of events – click here to see what’s going on and join us for some fun!
