Climbers to scale African peak to benefit Laing House

An article published in the August 9th edition of The Chronicle Herald:

A group of six Nova Scotians is on its way to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a fundraising effort for Laing House.

The group — Henry and Rena Demone, Hans and Dani Himmelman, and David Kirkpatrick and Paula Taylor — is paying all its own expenses so that all of the more than $60,000 that’s been raised will help support youth living with mental illness.

The idea for the climb was born at the Laing House masquerade ball fundraising event in 2007. Each member of the group has had a friend, family member or colleague experience mental illness and wanted to come up with a unique way to support Laing House.

The house is a peer support organization for youth with mental illness. It opened in Halifax in 2001 and has helped hundreds of young people. It’s the only organization of its kind in Canada.

Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, is the world’s highest free standing, snow-covered equatorial mountain. The climb will begin on Sept. 11. To learn more, visit www.lainghouse.org.

Photograph by Paul Shaffner. Photograph used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License