A Paisley dad has pledged to support good causes at home and around the globe as he aims to climb both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest within six months.
Stevie Kidd will climb to the roof of Africa for the third time in June and trek to the Everest base camp in November in a bid to raise lifeline cash for three charities.
The incredible challenge will raise funds for Finding Your Feet, MND Scotland and The UK Sepsis Trust.
The 52-year-old has also pledged to support good causes around Mount Kilimanjaro and in Nepal in recognition of the dedication shown by the skilled guides who have supported previous climbs of both peaks.
Stevie, who runs a business and personal coaching business, says 2023 will be the most challenging year yet for the charitable arm of the company, Stevie Kidd Foundation.
“This is going to be the biggest year of our lives,” he said. “We will be going over to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a family – with my wife Lesley and son Ryan – with clients of the business in June.
“We will then go to Nepal in November and in April my son Ryan will also be doing the Ten Peaks Challenge where he will climb 10 peaks across Scotland, hoping to raise £10,000 for The UK Sepsis Trust.”
All of the charities selected to benefit from the challenge are hugely important to Stevie and his family.
The Glenburn man has supported Finding Your Feet since 2015 after first seeing a poster for the Paisley-based initiative set up by Lochwinnoch mum Corr Hutton.
He was compelled to help the charity after learning about quadruple amputee Corr’s efforts to bolster the physical and mental health of people living with limb loss across Scotland.
The support for UK Sepsis Trust is in honour of Iain Carroll, the father of Ryan’s girlfriend, who lost his life to sepsis in 2018.
Finally, Stevie has also chosen to raise cash for mental health charity MND Scotland in recognition of the huge impact Covid-19 has had on people’s mental health.
As someone who has dedicated his life to helping others with poor mental health, he said: “With everything that’s going now following the Covid-19 pandemic, supporting MND Scotland made sense.
“I knew as soon as the pandemic hit that people mentally wouldn’t be able to cope. I thought, ‘let’s do something to give back’ and with our three charities, people can choose when they are donating which of the three charities they would like to support.”
Stevie will be accompanied by a host of his clients from the Stevie Kidd Pathway company on both ventures as part of his Reach Your Peak (RYP) initiative.
Next month he will travel to Mount Kilimanjaro to plan the event with partners Migration Venture Africa, where he will also learn more about how his company can support good causes within nearby communities.
He added: “Our purpose within our RYP Kilimanjaro events is not just to conquer the mountain but for our delegates to conquer themselves and support and contribute towards the communities of Tanzania that our partners support.
“The people we work with are amazing, they want to care for you and are helping you with your backpack when they are already carrying 35lbs. They show such love and care and so we want to see how we can help them.
“My trip is to get on the ground and understand more and gain a greater awareness of how we can help them going forward.”
Clients of the business who are taking part in the climb are also being encouraged to raise funds for their own good causes and work with Stevie’s life motto which is to serve, give and grow.
To find out more and to donate, log on to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lesley-kidd-kilimanjaro
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