Imagine climbing about 500 steps, in under 10 minutes.
That’s what more than 2000 climbers did for the Scotiabank StairClimb for United Way at One London Place, the tallest building in the city with 25 flights.
Local businesses, schools, and independent parties joined the climb to raise more than $200,000.
Sara Middleton, director of community partnerships for United Way, was glad to see cohorts of Londoners coming out.
“People collect pledges and each team generally sets a goal try to reach their financial goal,” she said. “A lot of teams motivate themselves to reach those goals by figuring out what the equivalent impact is on the community.”
She joined in on the hike with dozens of coworkers.
“You can go at your own pace, everybody does it a little bit differently. Some try to beat their time from last year or have time challenges within their teams.”
The popular Pikatchu was there to tag along, hoping to catch all the stairs at the Pokémon themed climb. Abbie MacMillan joined more than 130 London Life coworkers who not only walked out with a rewarding pat on the back, but a little more knowledge on the furry yellow creature.
“I did not know what a Pokémon was, I’ve got to admit I learned a little bit about it,” she said. “Our theme was no Pokémon left behind and no Pokémon was left behind.”
The non-for-profit provides social services in London and Middlesex County, by researching and investing in programs to serve the community.