easyhome employees Pauline O’Brien and John Kanarens climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the 2007 backpack fundraiser. The pair reached the summit on July 18th.

Pauline O’Brien (Store Manager) and John Kanarens (Regional Manager), easyhome's top fundraisers for 2006, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the 2007 backpack fundraiser. The pair reached the summit on July 18th, the same day easyhome reached its goal of $52,000 raised. Read the team's daily climb diary below. See a complete photo gallery of the Mount Kilimanjaro climb and the Backpack Challenge.

easyhome, Canada’s leading merchandise rent-to-own/leasing company, completed another successful  “Backpack Challenge” throughout all 198 locations, nationwide. The company raised enough money to purchase 2,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for needy children in Canada.

The company's top two 2006 fundraisers, Store Manager Pauline O’Brien and Regional Manager John Kanarens, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of the backpack fundraiser. On July 18th, John and Pauline reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and easyhome reached its goal of $52,000 raised.  See a photo gallery of the easyhome Mount Kilimanjaro climb and the Backpack Challenge.

John Kanarens said in his daily climb diary, "As you hike your way to Kibo, the snow capped summit forever in your view, you are reminded how small and insignificant you really are, but when you reach the top the feeling of personal pride and accomplishment is magnificent, something truly unforgettable." See John's climb diary below.

easyhome understands the value of preparing children to return to school with the necessary tools for a successful education. On August 24th, easyhome President and CEO David Ingram will ride the BIG, YELLOW BUS for the third year in a row and drop off a total of 200 backpacks, filled with school supplies to Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club. The remaining 1,800 backpacks will be split among 64 clubs throughout Canada.

Wade Dearling, easyhome Regional Manager, promised to let the top region fundraiser shave his head with a Canuck logo.

This year's Challenge was kicked off with the 2nd annual soccer game and BBQ at the Dovercourt Boys and Girls Club, giving the corporate staff an opportunity to visit a club, have lunch with the children and spend an afternoon playing soccer with them. easyhome President and CEO David Ingram also presented 300 Toronto Blue Jays tickets, donated by the team, to the Dovercourt Club.

All of easyhome's 198 stores participate in the fundraising by hosting local activities such as car washes and BBQs over the July 13th and 14th weekend.

Wade Dearling, easyhome Regional Manager, set a goal for his stores of $1,500. As an incentive, Dearling offered to let the leading fundraiser in his region shave his head! (see photo at right). With motivation like that, how could they fail?

“I said that I would put the shaver in the hands of the store that raised the most," said Dearling. Store Nanaimo 104’s Clint Harabalja was the lucky barber. As an added bonus, Dearling let Harabalja carve a Canuck logo on the back of his head. "He knows how much it would bother me since I am a true blue Toronto Maple Leafs fan," said a bald Dearling.

This event gives the corporate staff at easyhome an opportunity to visit a club, have lunch with the children and spend an afternoon playing soccer with them.

"We could not have achieved our goals without the hard work and determination of all easyhome associates, corporate partners, Board of Directors, and most importantly, our customers and community businesses," said David Ingram. "This was a team effort. Together, we will get 2,000 children prepared for a successful educational year.”

In 2004, easyhome announced a national charitable partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. The goal of this partnership is to demonstrate a commitment by investing in Canada’s most precious national resource, our children. There are approximately 102 local Boys and Girls Clubs, which serves more than 200,000 young people in 700 community-based locations in 40 different languages, across Canada. They offer a wide variety of services ranging from nutrition to after school programs. easyhome operates 198 locations in Canada.

Daily climb diary of easyhome Store Manager Pauline O’Brien and Regional Manager John Kanarens as they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Thursday July 12, 2007
DAY 1 • 3-hour hike
After a scrumptious breakfast, we set off shortly after 8:00 am in a 4x4 Land Cruiser traveling first on paved road, then red dirt roads. We started our 3-hour trek at 2:00pm through rainforest, and climbed from 7,500 to 9,100 ft. We saw many birds and colobus monkeys.

We were greeted at our first camp with a hot cup of tea, and then enjoyed a 3-course meal. The temperature dropped very quickly after the sun went down, to around 5_C. We went prepared for an assault by mosquitoes, but hardly saw any.

Friday July 13, 2007
DAY 2 • 8-hour hike
We were up with the sun (7:00 am.) and it was quite cold, 0_C. The climb began steeply, the trail was long and narrow and at times our breathing was affected. The pace was very slow to allow our bodies to make the necessary changes. Our guides Josh and Abdi were very attentive.

The change from rainforest to alpine vegetation came quite abruptly. The flora was quite varied and included giant heather 6 – 8 feet tall, Everlasting (like a dried paper flower), and “Impatiens Kilimanjaro”.

We climbed to around 12,000 ft., then descended into the Shira Plateau to “Shira Camp 1” at about 11,300 ft. This was a very grueling day and I (John) suffered my first headache. Overnight temperature dropped to -10_C, and our water bottles froze inside our tents. I heard some kind of animal scratching outside my tent, but have no idea what it was.

Saturday July 14, 2007
DAY 3 • 3-hour hike
Today was our shortest hiking day, because it is a critical acclimatization day. The rise in elevation was from 11,300 ft to just under 12,600 ft. When we arrived at “Shira Camp 2”, there was a delicious lunch waiting for us, and the balance of the day was an “active rest day”, spent exploring the surroundings and giving our bodies a deserved rest and allowing for altitude changes. This camp is above the clouds and presents some magnificent views. We are now feeling the effects of altitude; everything we do requires slow motion and a few recovery breaths.

Sunday July 15, 2007
DAY 4 • 8-hour hike
A howling wind blew all night. The air is very dry, and with the incessant wind the volcanic dust gets everywhere. You are constantly clearing your nose and it takes several breaths to recover. Today we hiked to the Barranco Valley and we both suffered symptoms of Altitude Mountain Sickness. This took us almost 8 hours, and once again we hiked to a higher elevation, 14,900 ft. before coming down to 13,700 ft. to sleep.

I had a tough day and my head was pounding before we reached the high point. Pauline also suffered a severe headache along with continuous nose bleeds and a feeling of nausea. The camp is surrounded by giant Senecia trees, rather strange looking plants with a green top and dead leaves all around the trunk to provide protection, they can reach a height of 20 – 30 ft. This camp is way above the clouds and right below the towering summit of Kibo. We are both appreciating the term “Pole, Pole”, meaning “slowly, slowly”. Everything we do is in slow motion. Just rising from a sitting position can take 10-15 seconds or you get light-headed.

Monday July 16, 2007
DAY 5 • 5-hour hike
Slept very well last night, no headaches or other altitude issues. Today we leave the Barranco valley and head to the Karanga Valley. Half an hour after setting out we hit the Barranco Wall, a sheer cliff that rises some 800 ft. The trail zig-zags up the face and climbers are required to use both hands and feet. There is quite a drop on your right side, but the guides are there to help you with every step. We really enjoyed this section, it was most exhilarating and the views were spectacular, looking out over the tops of the clouds and when you crest the top you’re looking straight at the summit. It was truly a stunning experience. We are both anxious to stand on top of the African continent. We headed over a couple more ridges, topping out at about 14,500 ft before descending to Karanga Valley at 13,600 ft.

We both experienced some minor headaches and the nose bleeds continue. It has now been 5 days without a shower! We get a small bowl of hot water in the morning to wash our face and hands and that’s it! The fine talc-like dust coats everything you wear and touch.

Tuesday July 17, 2007
DAY 6 • 14-hour hike
Today we head to the high camp, Barafu at 15,400 ft. This is a 3-hour hike and we are to rest until midnight, then we start our final assault on the summit. Our guides Josh and Abdi, agree that we were in good shape both physically and mentally (go figure), and if we reach Barafu in good time we should continue on to the summit immediately. We made high camp in 3 hours, so we re-packed for the cold and set off for the summit at 11:00 am. This last section of the mountain is very steep and progress is slow. On previous days we hiked up then down, but today is all up – 4,000 vertical feet. As we go higher, our bodies start to rebel. First the headaches start, then the feeling of nausea. This is the section where most climbers fail. The success rate is only 50%.
As we continue higher the pace gets slower. Breathing gets harder and harder and you are constantly reminded of the dangers of high altitude each time you catch a glimpse of the porter carrying the emergency oxygen bottles and Gamov bag. I have never struggled so hard to breathe. The porters sing to help keep your spirits up, but there is no way you can join in as you struggle for that next lungful of air. They keep reminding you that Steller Point on the crater rim is not far off.

The last 1,000 ft. is scree and loose rock. It is incredibly hard to walk on and it was at this point that we thought: “What the hell are we doing here?”. We were both exhausted and Pauline was hanging onto Abdi’s pack, being dragged up the last few hundred feet. It was 4:00 pm. and we have been on the move since 7:00 am. It was getting colder as the sun dropped, but we trudged on one step at a time. We noticed evidence of other poor struggling souls who had vomited all over the trail, and we wondered if we would succumb to the same fate. Steller Point was now in view and our spirits lifted, and as we crested the top we all celebrated this milestone.

It is now a 45-minute hike to Uhuru Peak. We have to climb over the ice of the Rebmann Glacier. This was extremely hard, our legs were weary and Godfrey (one of the porters) took my arm. I was very grateful for the assistance. As we reached the top of this icy slope our goal was in sight. I could feel the adrenalin kick in, and at this point I knew I would make it. Pauline was not far behind me and when she reached Uhuru Peak we embraced, tears of joy welled up in our eyes. It is a moment we shall never forget – standing there on the roof of Africa. I slowly turned through 360 degrees just to look over the whole African Continent. It was exhilarating.

The sun was dropping as was the temperature, now -12_C to -15_C. We took a lot of pictures, made one call to David [Ingram], and then had to start down, as it was getting dark. Once back at Steller Point we had to don our headlamps. Our descent down the scree slope was swift and dusty, all you could see in your headlight was dust, and you had no choice but breathe it in. What took 7 hours to climb only took 3 hours to get down! This was an exceptionally long day, but well worth it. As we were eating our supper we felt the mountain sway back and forth as an earthquake hit the area. We went to bed that night completely exhausted physically, but beaming with pride at what we had accomplished. We had trained hard for this, and now all that hard work had paid off and we had achieved our goal.

Wednesday July 18, 2007
DAY 7 • 7-hour hike
“What goes up, must come down” – no helicopter ride down from this mountain! Pauline and I had trained very hard for climbing up, building those leg muscles that would carry us to the top, but we did little training to prepare us for the climb down. We had taken 6 days to climb 10,000 ft. and now we were going down 10,000 ft. in just over 7 hours. Our knees and quads were in agony. But with every step you get more and more oxygen, and that feels good!

We went through 4 climatic changes. We started out at Barafu Camp in dry high alpine zone, no vegetation, just a barren rock strewn moonscape. As you come down into the clouds the air is cool and wet and the trail is slippery underfoot. This is where most accidents happen, as you are very tired, your goal has been reached and your guard is down. The moist cloud layer gives way to some strange vegetation, giant heather, and the Tanzanian national flower. Finally we reach the rain forest. Here again the trail is wet, muddy and very slippery. We use trekking poles to prevent falls, but by this time your body is screaming for this ordeal to be over. We are soaking wet, very tired and my knees were killing me. Pauline had sore quads and hips. Finally we reach Maweka Gate. It was a short ride back to the hotel, to a welcome shower and several beers.

CONCLUSION:
Pauline and I would sincerely like to thank easyhome for this truly world class experience. Kilimanjaro is a wild, rugged and barren environment. As you hike your way to Kibo, the snow capped summit forever in your view, you are reminded how small and insignificant you really are, but when you reach the top the feeling of personal pride and accomplishment is magnificent, something truly unforgettable.

Would we do this again? ABSOLUTELY NOT.