Aberdeen mother of two, Yasmeen Ali (35), is packing her walking boots and travelling to Tanzania to complete a charity trek over the world’s tallest free-standing mountain, Kilimanjaro.
Yasmeen decided to embark on this charity challenge after the successful completion of her laser eye surgery in June. Inspired by her determination, Optical Express has provided Yasmeen with the and £2000 sponsorship money she needs in order to undertake this challenge.
Yasmeen, who is the managing director of a health and safety consultancy in Aberdeen, is very active in the fundraising community. Having already completed the Inverness half and Edinburgh full marathons earlier this year in aid of Kidney Research UK, Yasmeen will now embark on her biggest challenge to date, Kilimanjaro.
Before Yasmeen signed up to the nine day expedition she dropped into her local Optical Express store in Aberdeen.
“I didn’t want to be fumbling around with glasses or contact lenses while trying to trek over Kilimanjaro,” Yasmeen explained, “so I decided to take the plunge and have laser eye surgery. The Aberdeen staff at Optical Express were fantastic and really helpful throughout the whole process.”
Shortly after her treatment in June, Yasmeen applied for the Kilimanjaro challenge in order to continue raising money for her charity of choice, Kidney Research UK.
“I’d left it quite late to apply,” said Yasmeen, “there were only a few places left on the expedition and I still needed to raise an initial and £3000 in sponsorship money.”
Having raised and £1000 by herself in a week, Yasmeen still had to raise £2000 in two weeks, or she would not have enough funds to participate in the charity trek.
“During my post surgery check-up, I told Fiona, the Aberdeen branch manager, about my goal to raise funds to climb Kilimanjaro for charity,” Yasmeen explained. “I was absolutely delighted when Optical Express offered to sponsor me for the remaining and £2000.”
“I now have perfect vision and I am about to embark on my biggest charity challenge yet and it’s all thanks to Optical Express.”
Liz McGuiness from Kidney Research UK said, “If anyone could raise that much sponsorship money in such a small amount of time it’s Yasmeen. Her fund raising activities for Kidney Research UK over the last few years have been relentless. She is an inspiration to us all.”
The single mother of two will be flying out to Tanzania on October 17th to begin the expedition. In the mean time, however, she will be doing a practice trek over Ben Nevis on the 19th Sept with Kidney Research UK, free from glasses and contact lenses.
