Harry Stuart Binks is participating in the 2018 Dream Mountains Everest Base Camp trek, in support of ONFE School Breakfast Program.
I’m very excited to be participating in one more magical Dream Mountains trek, this time to return to Nepal, and climb to Everest Base Camp in May of 2018. #EBCtake2. This is a personal challenge for me, to stretch my horizons and to face my fears. As Sir Edmund Hillary said “We don’t conquer the mountain. We conquer ourselves.”
I first got involved with Dream Mountains for the Machu Picchu trip in 2013, then again with the 2015 Everest Base Camp climb which was interrupted by the Nepal earthquake. Since then, I have hiked Patagonia, and then re-joined the Dream Mountains gang to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in the spring of 2017.
There is significant training and team-building that goes on leading up to any trek, and that’s part of the magic – you arrive at the airport to leave on an adventure with a team of friends who you know already have your back. The other part of the magic is that over $1,200,000 has been raised so far, with 100% of the funds going directly to the charities.
And finally, the last part of the magic is what happens to you as a person, when you find out what your limitations are, and exceed them. A profound change, and sometimes a profound reinforcement, comes over many people when faced with the challenges of a journey such as this. I’m certainly not the same person I was prior to setting out on these treks.
Our commitment is to pay 100% of our own expenses, and to raise a minimum of $5,000 for one of the charities supported by the Dream Mountains Foundation (we work as a team to support the chosen charity). Dream Mountains supports 7 local charities, and this year I am proud to represent the Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE) Ottawa School Breakfast Program:
Making a difference, one breakfast at a time
Through no fault of their own, many children in Ottawa arrive at school hungry each day. Research shows that children who eat a nutritious breakfast are more engaged in daily learning, perform better in school and have better self-esteem. The Ottawa School Breakfast Program strives to ensure that all children in our community have access to a healthy breakfast in a safe environment and are given an equal opportunity to succeed at school.
Over 13,500 Ottawa children in 175 schools begin each school day with a nutritious meal provided by the Ottawa School Breakfast Program – that’s over 2,000,000 meals in one school year!
These are extraordinary times. Please help me support this wonderful charity by sponsoring my trek – it doesn’t matter how much or how little you give – please help me make a difference! Please sponsor me at the link below.
~ Harry
