Bold Steps and Big Hearts: Ecuador Challenge for Shelter smashes fundraising record

• By Mike Heddle
• Posted Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 1:04 pm

Bold Steps and Big Hearts: Ecuador Challenge for Shelter smashes fundraising record

More than one year ago, Royal LePage professionals from across Canada were given the opportunity to take part in the adventure of a lifetime. As a participant in the ‘Ecuador Challenge for Shelter’, they would camp in tents for four chilly nights and hike for 5 days towards the base of Mt. Cotopaxi – one of the highest active volcanoes in the world – all in support of their local women’s shelters and national domestic violence prevention programs.  

115 brave Royal LePagers answered the call, each one agreeing to cover their personal trek and travel costs and to raise at least $6,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. Ultimately, this team of fundraisers collected a staggering $1.7 million for the cause, setting a new record for the most money raised by a single Shelter Foundation event. 

Funds will be split between each trekker’s local women’s shelter and programs in communities from coast to coast that teach youth how to build healthy relationships and avoid violence in their lives. An additional donation was made to the women’s shelter in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito, as a show of appreciation to the trek’s host country and as a signal of solidarity that women everywhere deserve to be safe in their homes and closest relationships....[READ MORE]