Family Makes High Climb for Charity

This June, parents Jamie and wife Leslie, along with their daughters, Melanie and Diana will travel to Vacation has different meanings for different people. For some it means relaxing at a resort, playing shuffleboard on a cruise to Bermuda, or surf trip to Costa Rica. But for the MacDonald

family, as a recent article in the Londoner reports, vacation means helping those in need.

This June, parents Jamie and wife Leslie, along with their daughters, Melanie and Diana will travel to Tanzania with the goal of climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb will benefit Plan Canada, a development agency dedicated to improving the lives of third world children. The MacDonalds hope to raise $5,000 to benefit the organization.

The MacDonalds say that their inspiration for their humanitarian vacation comes from Jamie’s late parents, Gord and Gladis. According to Jamie, Gord would take yearly trips to Jamaica or Cuba where he would donate computers, bicycles or clothes to help the communities there. Gord and Gladis both passed away in the past two years, and MacDonalds say that this trip will largely serve to honor their memory.

As of May 9, the MacDonalds were just shy of half-way to their fundraising goal. The money will be used to purchase mosquito netting to protect families living in areas where insect borne illnesses are prevalent.

“For $10, you can give a family a chance to be safe for three years,”Diana said. “It’s a pretty good deal.” People can make donations to the MacDonalds’ climb at their Facebook page, MacDonald Kilimanjaro Climb for Plan Canada. Jamie emphasized that the family would accept donations in any amount, and that the trip was about “the act of giving.” To read more about the MacDonalds, read the original article over at the Londoner.