Two Ballymoney men raise incredible £12k for charity by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

Calum McDonald and Joel Heggarty met at the start of the year to discuss taking on a new challenge – and what a challenge it turned out to be!

Calum said: “Kilimanjaro is the world’s highest free standing mountain at 5895 meters above sea level. The challenge took us seven days in total. This was to allow our bodies to acclimatise to the altitude.

"The climb itself was really challenging, but the group we were with really pulled together and supported each other when the going got tough, and tough it got!

"When planning for the challenge, we also decided this would be a great opportunity to raise funds for a charity. We decided to raise for a local mental health and suicide prevention charity based in Coleraine, Zachary Geddis Break the Silence Trust.

"The charity was set up by Yasmin Geddis and her parents after the tragic death of her brother Zachary who unfortunately lost his life by suicide. Our goal was to raise £10,000 for the charity, and we exceeded this by raising £12,083!"

Joel, who is also a volunteer for the charity, siad: “When Calum and I agreed to use our challenge as an opportunity to fundraise, I was really passionate about doing it for a local

charity within our community and it was an easy decision to choose ZGBTST.”

Yasmin Geddis, founder of The Zachary Geddis Break the Silence Trust, said: “What Joel and Calum have achieved and raised for ZGBTST is nothing short of amazing. Joel and I met at the beginning of the year and he asked me what amount would make a significant difference to the organisation. I had told him that £10,000 could run a service for a year and he took the amount and ran with it.

"We are delighted to be the recipients of the funds raised through their challenge. Current budget cuts are rife across the community and voluntary services, which includes the loss of our youth service at the end of 2023. With the guys’ fundraising, we can now sustain that service for an additional 12 months which will individually benefit 300 children and young people across the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. A huge thank you to Joel and Calum for choosing ZGBTST.”

Calum and Joel concluded: “We never believed we would have reached our target of £10,000, so to raise much more is something we are both extremely proud of. We were overwhelmed by the support we received by everyone who came to our fundraising events and donated online.

"It really gave us a big boost before leaving to go to Kilimanjaro. It definitely helped us in the difficult moments up the mountain to think of how many people back home were cheering us on! We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who supported us in achieving this goal.”

For further information on ZGBTST go to zgbtst.org