A team of fourteen from Forward Leeds, the city’s alcohol and drug service, aim to climb the three highest peaks in Yorkshire in one day.
The team are raising money for the Family Plus element of their service by taking on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. Family Plus work with the whole family and in particular the children of those in treatment.
Forward Leeds has bases in Armley and Burley.
Kathryn Blackburn, a former Forward Leeds client now a staff member, organised the walk. Kathryn said:
“Forward Leeds is the service that was instrumental in helping me turn my life around. My son Zac and I were offered additional support from the service’s Family Plus team as part of my treatment.
“Family Plus was beyond invaluable for me at the time. I had a dedicated support worker who visited me regularly and helped me navigate the simple everyday life things that I had neglected.
“Zac was supported by the Emotional Well-being Worker. It’s not easy for a nine year old to articulate their thoughts, feelings and emotions as their only parent is coming out of active addiction and the team really helped him.
“I genuinely don’t have enough words of appreciation for what the Family Plus team did to support us during that summer”.
The money raised by the fourteen climbers will be used to fund fun family activities for the children of those in treatment for alcohol or drug issues. In the past these events have included Halloween and Christmas parties, cinema trips, crafting sessions and even meeting exotic animals.
The Yorkshire Three Peaks route is 24 miles and includes 1585m of climbs. The team will be scaling the three peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough hopefully in under 12 hours on the 5 September.
To sponsor the team you can go to their GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/f/three-peaks-family-plus-fundraiser.