Two Aberdeen charities are teaming up to host a fundraising abseil down the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH) this summer and are appealing to locals with a head for heights to take part.
The Archie Foundation and Team Jak Foundation will be sharing the ropes on Saturday July 9, to raise money for either charity or both. All money raised will go to support local children and their families in the North-east of Scotland.
Paula Cormack, Chief Executive Officer at The Archie Foundation, said: “We have been hoping to bring back Archie's Abseil at Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital for some time now and finally restrictions have eased enough to allow this. We are very excited to be hosting this fantastic event again and we look forward to meeting those brave enough to undertake the challenge. It’s a wonderful opportunity for people to get together, whether that be families or colleagues and take part in an incredibly unique event. We also hope some of our NHS colleagues will brave the heights.”
The Archie Foundation is the official charity of RACH and Aberdeen Neonatal Unit. The charity, based in the hospital, provides vital services and support to children and families across the north of Scotland such as funding specialist roles, financial support, equipment and projects. As well as supporting sick babies, children and their families, Archie also supports children and their families who have lost a loved one, through Archie’s Child Bereavement Service.
Paula continued: “We are delighted to be sharing the ropes with Team Jak Foundation, who bring a large amount of additional support and benefit to children and their families affected by cancer in the North-east. Charities often find themselves ‘competing’ against each other to raise funds, so we are really proud to be collaborating to ensure the best possible support for local families.”
Team Jak was created at the request of inspirational teenager Jak Trueman following his journey with childhood cancer. Inspired by Jak’s dreams, the charity provides practical, social, and emotional support to children and young people with cancer and related illnesses, their family, friends and those bereaved. The charity, established in 2015 and based in Livingston, has been supporting oncology families in Aberdeen for the past four years and is now actively looking for premises in Aberdeen to expand support.
Hazel McLinden, Den Manager at Team Jak Foundation said: “We are really looking forward to working side by side with The Archie Foundation on this exciting event and hope this will be the beginning of a great partnership, working together to ensure our families within Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital get the best support possible. We really hope that many supporters of both Jak’s Den and Archie will take part in this fantastic event to enable us to raise as much as possible for local families.”
Entrants must be over 16 years old. All participants will receive a charity t-shirt to wear and a goodie bag on the day. The sign-up fee is £25 and the charities are asking participants to raise a minimum of £100.
Registrations for individuals to sign up for the once in a lifetime event are now open and can sign up by visiting - https://archie.org/events/abseil-for-archie-aberdeen/
to sign up to raise funds for Archie OR email info@teamjak.org.uk to sign up to raise funds for Team Jak.