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Giving Back — MM Nepal Staff In Lean Times

Ever­est Base Camp should nor­mal­ly be in full swing right now, with climbers prepar­ing for the sum­mit, and trekkers arriv­ing in base camp, exhaust­ed and elat­ed. Like the rest of the world, Nepal and the Ever­est region are reel­ing from the eco­nom­ic reper­cus­sions of COVID-19, includ­ing Moun­tain Mad­ness staff who depend on our sea­son­al trips to sus­tain them through­out the year. In Nepal no eco­nom­ic stim­u­lus pack­age, unem­ploy­ment checks, or any oth­er mea­sures exist to assist peo­ple dur­ing these dif­fi­cult times.

We’re ask­ing for any dona­tion — small or large — to help sup­port our Nepal team through a sea­son of unem­ploy­ment. If you have been with Moun­tain Mad­ness in Nepal and come to know the excel­lent souls who staff our trips, I’m sure you know why we appre­ci­ate them and why we want to help them and their families. 

We are col­lect­ing dona­tions through a GoFundMe cam­paign , and we will ensure that your dona­tions are deliv­ered direct­ly into the hands of the staff who were to be employed this spring. This was how we deliv­ered over $80,000 for earth­quake relief in 2015: cold hard cash in the hands of those whose homes were destroyed (minus GoFundMe fees). We believe this sim­ple, stream­lined approach has the biggest impact with­out addi­tion­al costs.

CONSIDER A DONATION HERE

If you pre­fer a tax-deductible dona­tion to grass­roots pro­grams that sup­port peo­ple through­out Nepal, I would sug­gest Chang­ing Lives Nepal (CLN) . Long-time Moun­tain Mad­ness guide Deana Zabal­do co-found­ed this orga­ni­za­tion 11 years ago and con­tin­ues to vol­un­teer her time, ensur­ing that dona­tions go direct­ly to on-the-ground, local­ly-dri­ven projects. Through CLN, Moun­tain Mad­ness has helped to sup­port 23 chil­dren at an orphan­age and has donat­ed com­put­ers to the orphan­age and to near­by schools in remote moun­tain villages.

We great­ly appre­ci­ate any amount you may be able offer. If you have more ques­tions, please con­tact Mark Gun­log­son, MM com­pa­ny own­er, at markg@​mountainmadness.​com or call us at 206−953−9046.