Fundraiser's Story: Nora

Nora was one of our superstar fundraisers who signed up to take part in our Kilimanjaro challenge in 2016. She has raised £3,560 and counting for our work in Kenya and will be climbing in August 2017.

“As it was the last year of my undergraduate degree, I decided that I had to do something crazy before I was going to start my postgraduate degree. I came across a poster at University, advertising the Dig Deep challenge to climb Kilimanjaro and raise money for clean water, so I decided to go to the meeting. I immediately knew this was my kind of challenge and I did not take long until I signed up. I have always been trying to give back to the communities, if it was simply by giving blood, or volunteering, like I did, for over a month in Germany.

I was incredibly excited for the fundraising part even though I have to admit that the target was a little bit daunting at first. Nevertheless, I did some brainstorming and wrote down all the hobbies that I have and people that I know that might be beneficial for my fundraising. Soon it became clear to me that fundraising could be easy and fun if you are well organized. It was amazing getting to feel how all your friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers loved the Dig Deep project and my energy and gave me all their support. Quickly enough I had an incredible amount of money on my fundraising account through online donations thanks to advertising the project and myself on social media. I also organised a big fundraising concert with my orchestra, and wrapped presents over Christmas with Scouts: these two events led to smashing my fundraising target in January already, while I only signed up in October.

I loved every minute of my fundraising and went all the way out with doing posters and flyers in order to have as much visibility at events as possible. I was furthermore proud to represent a great association like Dig Deep, who not only work directly with local supplier and make sure that no intermediary pockets any money, but who also represent a cause I personally believe is most important: access to clean water and sanitation.

Whilst I reached my target of £2990 , I am proud to have even surpassed it and reached £3490 as of now and I am really looking forward to climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in August. What I am most looking forward to about the challenge is the team bonding, but also seeing the sun rise when we are almost at the top: I am sure it will be very memorable. The personal travel after the Kilimanjaro climb is sure to be exciting too and I cannot wait to explore Zanzibar and go on safari, knowing that I have just successfully climbed the highest mountain of Africa and also providing clean water and sanitation for communities in Kenya.”

We love hearing our fundraisers success stories and all about the fabulous events they have put on. Gaining sponsorship is a great way to spread awareness for Dig Deep as well as your event. Just like Nora, Bethany Stretton-Platt another one of our wonderful Kilimanjaro fundraisers hosted a fundraising evening at her local hotel filled with food, fun and raffles, this event was sponsored by Experience Days who provided raffle prizes not to be missed. Make sure you share your fundraising stories with us and you could feature in our next blog post!