Hiking shoes purchased…tick…

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks in relation to the Kili climb. More and more people are expressing an interest in joining us to raise much needed money for Future2 Foundation with Sam Hunt being the most recent person to commit to climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.

The group organising the adventure and helping us with fundraising is definitely doing a great job providing us with resources and ideas and bringing us together as a community.

We have reached out to a number of previous Future2 Grant recipients to help with our fundraising ventures. Their stories are powerful and the programs funded by the grants make such a difference to the lives of many young people. I’m in the process of arranging for one of the grant recipients to speak at our cocktail event or other fundraiser so our generous supporters can hear firsthand what a difference their donations make.

On the training side of things, David and I have been sticking to our regular routines (at least one of us has), despite the wintery weather. David is a distance runner and runs about 4 times per week, with a long run of 30 kms on the weekend. I’m more of a “jorker” – jog/walk – but have managed my best distance of 17kms since breaking my foot last year. I run about twice a week and also go to a fabulous gym twice a week, depending how busy I am with work. The gym sessions are likely to get more intense as time goes on, building strength in my legs. This weekend my crazy trainer had me doing about 2,000 (alright, 200) jump lunges amongst other things! Try them, they hurt!

The really exciting news this week was my birthday, also known as “the Festival of Anne”. No diamonds or chocolates for me, oh no. In true form and consistent with my anniversary present (a compass) and Mother’s day present (warm socks) I got the much awaited hiking boots. Now we are ready to take on our first training trek which is the 1000 Steps Kokoda Walk in the Dandenong Range National Park. We’ll then continue on to the One Tree Hill walk so the total trek will be about 4 hours. I hope to wear my boots in before then!

Being the finance people we are, it hasn’t escaped us that the money we’re spending personally on this adventure could feed a small nation! So why go to all this trouble? Like many people who do this kind of activity it’s not about writing a cheque and moving on. It’s about getting involved. It’s about raising awareness of our charity amongst the financial planning community; involving our friends and families in an activity that creates excitement, goodwill and energy. It’s about incorporating a sense of social responsibility in our workplace and it’s about challenging ourselves and having fun.

We’ve received many messages of good luck and support from people we barely know and this is just the beginning. Please continue reading my posts and more importantly, donate to the Future2 Foundation here.

Anne Graham (and David Graham)

23 June: Future 2 Foundation, Mt Kilimanjaro Climb 2016 – 1,000 Steps Kokoda Walk

27 May: Future 2 Foundation, Mt Kilimanjaro Climb 2016 – Oh, what the hell have I done?

12 May: Future 2 Foundation, Mt Kilimanjaro Climb 2016 – Want to climb a mountain? Of course I do…

The post Future 2 Foundation, Mt Kilimanjaro Climb 2016 – Boots and birthday appeared first on AdviserVoice.