USA Fundraising Lecture Tour March 2013
I am writing this blog from the table of a friends house in San Francisco – which is a very cool city that I have loved visiting! I am here to join Summit Climb’s Dan Mazur to do a short lecture tour about mountaineering and the things we do in order to raise money for a new Sherpa Climbing School, a much needed and worthy project with the Mount Everest Foundation for Sustainable Development (MEFSD) in Nepal.
Through climbing with Summit Climb I became aware of the MEFSD and I have been an ambassador for the charity since 2007. The Foundation exists to help local families help themselves to build schools and hospitals and environmental projects in remote areas near to Mount Everest. The MEFSD is a registered charity of Nepal number 326/060/61.
In 2010 I joined a Service Walk and visited the village of Patale in Nepal where we delivered medicines to the health clinic and visited and taught in the primary and secondary schools. This trip was particularly special to me as Patale it is the village where Jangbu, the sherpa who I climbed both Cho Oyu and Everest with lives. He has been very instrumental in the work the MEFSD has done in his village. I visited his home and met his family and friends.
The Sherpa Climbing School is a new project although the MEFSD have been working on it informally for years on a small scale; providing kit & teaching climbing skills, working from a tiny office and a simple small classroom.
The MEFSD want to make the Climbing School larger; they need staff who can review applications and do admin, teachers who have the right technical skills, kit for the Sherpa’s and larger store rooms and classrooms.
This is the only FREE Sherpa Climbing School in Nepal, it will mean Sherpas from remote villages who have the capability and skill but no means to get trained will now have access to the training and therefore a career.
Dan and I will be doing lectures this week in California. Details below…
Mount Everest Live Multi Media Slideshow: 5, 6, and 7 March: Rescuing, Climbing, Paragliding and Motorcycling.
This year is the 50th Anniversary of the 1st American Ascent of Mount Everest!
LECTURE DATES AND LOCATIONS:
Tuesday 5 March, 7:30 pm.
Santa Rosa RIM CLUB: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa, CA, 95401.
Wednesday 6 March, 7:00 pm.
Fox Theatre, 308 W. Main St, Visalia, CA, 93291.
Thursday 7 March, 7:00 pm.
CalTech Alpine Club, 102 Steele, Caltech Campus, 1200 E California, Blvd, Pasadena, CA, 91125.
Inviting women and men, families and children of all ages, to participate in an exciting evening. Come join our fun 1 hour live multimedia show for a great cause: the Mount Everest Foundation for Sustainable Development (MEFSD). Our main goal this year is to raise funds and collect new and lightly used climbing and trekking equipment, clothing and shoes for the New Sherpa Climbing School.
This colorful, and intriguing presentation features Squash Falconer, the famous motorcyclist, paraglider pilot and Everest summiter, along with Dan Mazur, 9 time Everest leader and rescuer of Lincoln Hall, world famous climber “Left for Dead” at the summit of Everest. The story was featured on NBC Good Morning America and Dateline with Matt Lauer. We encourage you, family, friends, and colleagues to join the team for our live and in-person slide video show. It’s going to be an inspirational, fun, and very sociable event where you can meet like-minded folk, share stories and converse with the leaders and members of SummitClimb, SummitTrek, and the MEFSD before we head off to climb Mt. Everest again this spring.
We love to interact with our audiences, so please bring lots of questions to ask and be ready to join the discussion.
Also, WE HAVE HAND CARRIED FROM KATHMANDU, NEPALESE ART AND SOUVENIRS TO GIVE YOU in return for your kind donations: necklaces, paintings, scarves, soap, tea bags, wall hangings, and incense. Thank you in advance for telling all of your friends, family and colleagues. The more the merrier!
All of the proceeds from these shows go to build the New Sherpa Training School. We accept cash, credit cards, and checks payable to Mount Everest Foundation.
Please invite everyone you can think of for an exciting and invigorating talk. Let’s bring together people in your community who enjoy mountains for an interesting social event, to make new friends and rendezvous with old acquaintances.
Here is what we need for the school (used equipment is fine and sherpas come in all sizes, from very small to very large):
▪ Plastic climbing boots
▪ One-sport-everest or other boots with built in gaiter
▪ Crampons
▪ Ice axes
▪ Helmets
▪ Harnesses
▪ Carabiners
▪ Descending/rapelling/abseiling/belaying devices
▪ Ascenders such as petzl/jumar/bd, etc
▪ Slings
▪ Ropes
▪ Jackets made of fleece/pile or goretex or down
▪ Trousers made of fleece/pile or goretex or down
▪ Rucksacks and backpacks
▪ Sleeping bags
▪ Warm hats
▪ Mittens and gloves made of wool/poly/fleece/pile/polar or goretex or down
▪ Sunglasses
▪ Baselayers made of made of wool/poly/fleece/pile/polar
▪ Socks made of made of wool/poly/fleece/pile/polar
▪ Trekking shoes
▪ Headlamps
We need donations to cover the costs of shipping the donated supplies to Nepal. Do you or anyone know of companies or airlines who might give free or discounted shipping, or funds for the shipping? We are able to arrange a tax deduction / gift tax eligibility for you, should you or the donating organization or company require it. Please contact our offices to arrange shipping and/or pickup of the equipment and clothing at your location info@MountEverestFoundation.org. Thank you very much for your kindness in joining our charity non-profit team of men and women Sherpas and men and women of all ages and abilities from around the world working together as unpaid volunteers to share knowledge and build on skills and experience to increase mountaineering and trekking opportunities and be sure it is being done in the correct way, with attention to safety, teamwork, environmental and social ethics, as well as good customer service.
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