Mt. Everest Climb for Kids

Oct 25, 2012

Photo: Leslie Myles of Sydenham and managing director of the LLF will be climbing to Base Camp Everest in the 2012 Mt. Everest Climb For Kids to raise funds for school kids locally and globally

It will not be the first time that Leslie Myles of Sydenham has climbed mountains to raise funds for school kids. In January 2009, Myles, who is the managing director of the Limestone Learning Foundation, summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya in the Kili Climb for Kids. In the process she raised over $60,000 for the Amani Children's House in Tanzania, a home and safe haven for homeless children in that country.

In mid-November Leslie will once again be strapping on her hiking boots and heading this time for Kathmandu, Nepal where she, along with 13 other Canadian climbers, will be embarking on a 12-day trek to the base camp of Mount Everest, which lies at an elevation of 17,598 feet.

Myles has been training regularly for the trip and is currently collecting donations and pledges to raise funds for school children locally through programs offered through the Limestone Learning Foundation (LLF) and globally for children in Nepal through the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation. The funds raised for the latter charity will be used to help build a high school in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal.

“I feel so lucky to be able to be doing something like this", Leslie said when I interviewed her at Loughborough Public School on October 19. “Not only do I personally get to enjoy the adventure and journey to the other side of the world and the climb itself but I also get a chance to see the culture, to see how people live in Nepal and to better understand what the children there are most in need of.” She says she is a real adventure seeker who loves traveling, physical fitness and the great outdoors but more importantly, “By far the biggest motivation for me is the opportunity to give back to school kids both here and there and to have a chance to make a difference in their futures .. I'm so honored to be able to do this kind of work. I love to be able to help kids both here and around the world.”

Donations will be used to support the various creative programs offered through the LLF, the charitable arm of the Limestone District School Board, which enhances student programming by attracting donations and grants for innovative learning projects in local schools. Monies donated to the Sir Edmund Hillary Fund will be used to complete the building of a high school in Nepal that serves 150 students. The new school will enable the grade 11 and 12 students to study science, one area of study that has been sorely lacking there.

Myles, who has been on the LLF board of directors for 11 years prior to becoming its managing director last year, said that this kind of work suits her to a tee. She recalled that in the 1960s, after his team successfully crossed a mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary asked one of the Sherpas, “If there is anything I can do for the Sherpa people, what do you think that would be?”

To which his Sherpa friend replied, “Our children have eyes but are blind and cannot see. We want you to open their eyes by building a school in our village.”

In that same vein Myles and her climbing team are helping children both locally and globally to see a bigger and brighter future.

Tomorrow, Friday October 26, Leslie will be giving a presentation at the Sydenham Legion from 5:30-10:30pm. Join her for an evening of food, entertainment and fun to raise money for her Everest trip. Come hear about what she is doing to prepare for the trip and what the money raised will support both here at home and abroad, in Nepal.

Anyone wanting to make a donation or a pledge for the climb can do so locally by visiting www.limestone.on.ca/llf/. Global donations can be made to the Sir Edmund Hillary Fund by visiting www.thesiredmundhillaryfoundation.ca