I'm going on an adventure to test my strength and support women and children from my community.

I'm going on an adventure to test my strength and support women and children from my community. Join me in supporting real change.

In November, I’m going to explore my beautiful Guatemala to complete a tough but life-changing adventure to raise funds for mothers and babies in ODIM Guatemala’s Healthy Mommy & Me initiative.

I’ve witnessed firsthand the struggle women and children face in my community. I started working at ODIM to be part of the change that is needed to make my community healthier, the Healthy Mommy and Me program is one of the ways ODIM is effecting change. The program helps mothers take better care of themselves and their babies and gives these children the chance of a healthier life. I am joining the Challenge to raise funds for this life saving program so we can reach more women and give them access to health care and health education.

I’m honored to represent all of my co-workers at ODIM, as I test my strength and physical ability during this personal challenge of a lifetime. For me exercise is self-care. I always try to stay active; I like to run and bike around the lake, but I've never faced such a big challenge. I've wanted to hike Acatenango for a very long time and now is my chance to prove that I can do it.

During the course of 8 intense days, I will take on a journey through Guatemala completing three different challenges; a jungle trek from the ruins of Yaxhá to the ancient Mayan city of Tikal, an overnight hike up volcano Acatenango (height 13,041 ft / 3,976 m above the sea), and paddle boarding across Lake Atitlan. It is going to be tough, but I am determined to achieve what I’ve never imagined.

Our goal, as a team is to raise enough money to fund the ODIM Guatemala’s Healthy Mommy & Me Initiative in 2020. In Guatemala, child mortality and chronic malnutrition are among the highest in the world and the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, in the rural communities of San Juan La Laguna and San Pablo, where ODIM works, 8 out of 10 children are malnourished, and a worrying number of babies don't make it to their second birthday. ODIM's Healthy Mommy & Me initiative aims to change that by recruiting women and babies from the time of conception until the child's second birthday, providing them with medical checks, health education, family planning talks, vitamins and supplements.

I need to raise a minimum of $3000 which equals the cost of 150 women's participation in the program for one month. Any donation - big or small - will go a long way to helping me meet my goal.

Will you help me give children in Guatemala a healthy start in life?