After a mammoth seven day trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, a team from Spar Scotland have raised over £50,000 for Edinburgh Sick Kids Friends Foundation and Maggie’s Cancer Centres – more than double their original £20,000 target. The fantastic sum was raised through collection buckets placed in stores throughout Scotland and from personal donations.
The team consisted of Susan Hutchison (owner of the Spar store in Scone), Spar customer John Evans and Dundee-based CJ Lang colleagues Graham Murdoch and Jamie Buchanan. They scaled Africa’s highest peak after months of gruelling training and meticulous preparation, facing freezing temperatures and biting winds on the ascent.
Jamie Buchanan said the team were inspired by the fantastic work of Maggie’s and Edinburgh Sick Kids. He commented: “We are completely overwhelmed by the response from our families, friends, colleagues and customers, and to raise over £50,000 gave us that extra motivation to get to the summit.”
Graham Murdoch added: “The support and sacrifice by our families and the support from the company has been outstanding. We feel extremely privileged and proud to have been able to represent Spar Scotland and the charities at the highest point in Africa”.
Katy Sandford from Edinburgh’s Sick Kids said everyone at the hospital was extremely proud of the team, and “blown away” by their inspirational total. She hopes their tremendous efforts will inspire other fundraisers and concluded: “The money the Spar team has raised will make a huge difference to the wellbeing and comfort of the 100,000 children who pass through the doors of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh every year”.
Everyone at SLR extends a huge congratulations to the Spar team for what is undeniably an amazing achievement.
