Two members of Big Brothers Big Sisters Sarnia-Lambton raised around $45,000 by climbing the stairs of a city apartment building 200 times last month.
Executive Director Michael Hurry said a virtual Denali base camp was set up in front of 11 Derby Lane after the organization's annual mountain climbing fundraiser was cancelled.
Hurry said the money that he and board member Dave Hill were able to raise with their many treks up and down the 11-storey building, a total of 20,310 feet, was far beyond what they had expected or hoped for.
"We sort of hoped initially to raise $10,000 and then we got a couple of business guys that kicked in some money that said if we could match it, they would make a donation, so that moved our goal to $30,000 and now we're over $40,000."
Hurry said donations trickling in from a few local businesses should put them in the $45,000-range.
He said compared to 2019, the organization is down between $225,000 and $250,000 because of events they weren't able to run due to the pandemic.
"This pushing $45,000 is a good chunk of that money along with money that we've got through the government for support, from the Sarnia Community Foundation, the United Way -- it's not been a great year, but we're going to make it through."
Hurry said on previous fundraising trips, including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or base camp on Everest, the organization has raised upwards of $300,000.
"The least we've raised on any one of those trips I think was about $60,000, so this is under that, but you know what, there was just two of us doing it, and I got to sleep at home in my own bed at night, I didn't have to be in a tent halfway up a mountain, so there's a lot of good things about climbing an apartment building rather than a mountain," said Hurry. "The second time [Dave and I were at Denali], at night it was down to -52 C, so -52 C sleeping in a down sleeping bag is a little more challenging than climbing stairs during the day."
Hurry said he and Hill met most mornings for a 45-minute stair climb, adding the scenery wasn't great but the conversations were.
