Barrhead Travel President tops over £5,000 in fundraising as she summits Mt Kilimanjaro
Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, has summited the world’s highest freestanding mountain and has raised over £5000 in charitable donations for her achievement.
The Glasgow-based business woman swapped her suits for hiking boots last week and joined a group of eleven other travel industry leaders and tour partners, G-Adventures, in an eight-day trek to collectively raise money for Planeterra Foundation and ABTA Lifeline.
The Planeterra Foundation is a not-for-profit charity founded by G-Adventures. Its mission is to transform travel experiences through local impact by helping communities earn a sustainable living through tourism. The foundation has supported projects all over the world to help improve healthcare, social enterprise, conservation and emergency response.
Thirty percent of the money raised will go directly to ABTA Lifeline; a charity supporting travel industry employees who are in need of financial grants in times of hardship. Many Thomas Cook employees who were affected by its collapse earlier this year have been helped by ABTA Lifeline over the last few months.
Dobson said that the trek was one of the most challenging experiences of her life:
“Climbing up Kilimanjaro was one of the hardest things I have ever done – physically and mentally. Despite the challenging conditions, the support and service we received from the G-Adventures team who accompanied us was outstanding – we couldn’t have done it without them! We were able to appreciate first-hand the work that Planeterra Foundation do in communities such as Tanzania thanks to the support of our local guides and Sherpas.
“Every year I set a goal to try and push myself to the limit and raise money for a charity that’s close to my heart. I’ve had an overwhelming amount of support from my colleagues in Barrhead Travel and the wider business community in Scotland. I’ve raised over £5000 and every single penny will go to an extremely worthy cause.”
Each year, around 30,000 people visit Mount Kilimanjaro with around 50-60% of climbers reaching the summit.
