SUMMIT FOR STOLLERY

Going To New Heights For The Hospital

The Summit for Stollery took a team of 12 to Mount Kilimanjaro and raised $1 million in the process

BY LISA KADANE

When Richard Kirby summited Mount Kilimanjaro in 2007, it didn’t occur to the Edmonton entrepreneur that he’d ever want to attempt climbing to the top of Africa’s highest mountain a second time. But 12 years later, once the mental and physical toll of ascending to 5,895 metres elevation had become a distant memory, Kirby got it in his head to climb Kili again — this time to raise money for the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

“I wanted to do something to help raise some money, and also go on an experience with a group of people who were passionate about the cause,” says Kirby, who is past-chair of the Foundation’s volunteer board of trustees.

Over six weeks, he cajoled friends and acquaintances until he’d assembled a team of 12 that included Foundation president & CEO Mike House, five board members and others who were passionate about the Hospital and had Mount Kilimanjaro on their bucket list. Kirby then approached the Foundation’s community initiatives program for project approval and to get support that included an online fundraising page that each team member could personalize.

And just like that, the Summit for Stollery was born, with a goal of raising $1 million for the Hospital through donations.

The dedicated fundraisers met every Sunday for training hikes in the Edmonton river valley, and team members would sometimes get together ad-hoc to walk or climb stairs. Over the

I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP RAISE SOME MONEY, AND ALSO GO ON AN EXPERIENCE WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WERE PASSIONATE ABOUT THE CAUSE.

RICHARD KIRBY

course of three-and-a-half months they not only got fit for the expedition, they met their fundraising goal by soliciting friends, family and local companies. Synergy Projects, which is owned by Dennis Mozak, contributed $150,000, and a couple of individual donors gave $50,000 and $40,000, respectively.

“It all added up,” says Kirby. “We had everything from $10 donations to $150,000.”

The story was also picked up by local media, furthering the campaign’s reach and success as the community rallied behind Summit for Stollery. Another reason the fundraiser was so successful is because climbing one of the world’s “seven summits”— the highest mountains on each of the seven continents — is a daunting prospect.

“It was something very challenging, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, so I think people really got behind that and supported them,” says Joanna Begg Pattison, senior manager of community initiatives for the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Kirby and the team travelled to Tanzania in October 2019 and joined up with Tusker Trail, the outfitter that guided them up the mountain’s scenic Lemosho route over eight days. They hiked through lush rainforest, across barren tundra, and scaled the Barranco Wall, an imposing 257-metre-high rock face that made well-accustomed to cold temperatures for a challenging scramble. The back home in Edmonton, the team whole time they trekked at a steady embraced the less-than-optimal conpace, what the locals call “pole, pole,” ditions and agreed that getting to the which translates from Swahili as summit was a trip highlight. “slowly, slowly.” It’s one method that The Summit for the Stollery inihelps with acclimatization. tiative was such a success that the

The group was certainly playroom in the pediatric motivated to ascend to surgery unit will soon be Kili’s summit by a dose of personal conviction, but the biggest shot of encourageThe team summited Mt. Kilimanjaro named in its honour. In addition, the $1 million the group raised will make a ment came from the donors supporting their cause, and the on Oct. 13, 2019. life-changing difference when it comes to advancing specialized children who would physical and mental benefit from the money. health care for Stollery kids,

“Around camp the conversawhether that means ensuring tions often turned to the donors and subspecialty training for staff, purthe kids that we were doing it for. It is chasing specialized tools, or funding more motivating than just a personal leading-edge research. achievement. You’ve got people that Kirby, meanwhile, is confident the believe in you and have given money,” money will be spent well and wisely. says Kirby. “And we said it I don’t “My time on the board let me see know how many times — as hard as first-hand how strong governance the climb is, it is nowhere near as hard stewarded by talented volunteers and as what the kids in the Hospital are an exceptional management team will going through.” ensure that funds will be spent where

Despite chilly, windy weather on they’re needed most,” says Kirby. “I summit day, the group bundled up in feel so privileged to have been able to their gear — much of it subsidized by share an extraordinary adventure with Edmonton-based Skier’s Sportshop amazing people committed to giving and Campers Village — and began kids the best chance to live long and the long trek to the top. Already healthy lives.”