It's an uncommon problem during the holiday season when opportunities for indulgence abound.
Following 10 months of intensive training for an upcoming charitable ascent of Argentina's Aconcagua, West Vancouver's Julian Bannister is pleased to finally be able to take a break. Tapering his training as his climb will begin at the end of the month, he's been guiltlessly diving into the delectable delights of the festive season. "My wife hates it when I tell her this, but I need to actually put on weight and I'm having a really tough time doing it," he laughs. Bannister goes on to explain he's been eating anything and everything he can get his hands on at Christmas gatherings.
"It's the right time to go away for a climb," he laughs.
All jokes aside, the true focus of the 45-year-old West Vancouver man and his partner, brother-in-law, Stephen Wright, is the communities in need in Africa they're determined to raise $25,000 for through their efforts.
The dedicated duo has partnered with the Obakki Foundation and in addition to their own fundraising goal, are helping the organization launch a new campaign, entitled Live with a Purpose. Its intent is to encourage other community members to likewise get involved with Obakki and use their respective passions to help others.
The Obakki Foundation was created by West Vancouver's Treana Peake in 2009. The creative director and founder of Obakki Designs, a luxury fashion line, launched the foundation as the label's philanthropic counterpart "As my fashion brand started to grow and as the name started to generate some interest, some recognition or attention, I decided to launch the Obakki Foundation," says Peake, 41, who has been an active humanitarian for two decades.
The foundation serves communities in Africa, drilling wells, monitoring their use and potentially continuing development work, helping launch agricultural initiatives, building schools or providing other educational support.
"We just believe that water is the starting place for all forms of development and so we focus on starting with clean water and then from there we work into some other areas," says Peake, who is married to Nickelback's Ryan Peake.
As every community is different, Obakki works to address their specific needs and interests.
"We don't want to go in and force a model upon a community. We go in and start with water and then we see where the community itself wants to go. A lot of communities just are happy with water and that's where they want to stay. And then other communities are ready to expand and grow... and we just kind of go village by village," she says.
So far, Obakki has provided more than 700 water wells in South Sudan, bringing water to approximately one million people. The foundation has also helped provide medical, educational and nutritional support, built schools, and provided emergency relief to refugees and other displaced people.
Sales from Peake's fashion line cover 100 per cent of the foundation's administrative fees. "There are a lot of costs involved in running. .. charities and I just wanted people, if they were contributing to our cause, to know that every single penny of their contribution was going to where it was needed - not into paying someone's wage, or into paying for a website or paying for someone's travel fees or any of that kind of stuff," she says.
This spoke to Bannister who became aware of the foundation through his children's school, which was involved in Obakki's Kids for Clean Water Program, a full circle initiative educating children about the global water crisis. Program participants fundraise for a specific community well project, and stay involved long enough to see the results of its implementation.
Two years ago, Bannister climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in support of Obakki, raising $6,000. "I liked (Treana's) passion and I liked her project choices. The other side is that 100 per cent of funds raised go on the ground to these projects. There is no overhead, it's all covered by the fashion side. So it's great to see the money that you raise going straight onto the ground," he says.
"When the Aconcagua climb came on my radar I thought what a great opportunity to get back involved with Treana and the Obakki Foundation," he adds.
In addition to Kids for Clean Water, Obakki runs a number of fundraising product campaigns throughout the year, including the sale of candles and water bottles. What's proven to be the most popular is the sale of limited edition scarves. Five hundred scarves (designed by Peake's fashion line) sold creates a water well for a village in Africa. The scarves come in different colours, with each specifically linking to a village, and sell for $29.
"What's special about the campaign is that you don't just buy a scarf and walk away with a scarf, we're continually connecting the consumers. .. directly with their village," says Peake.
"I think it's a really great way to connect our world," she adds.
Obakki's current campaign, Live with a Purpose, was launched in response to a continued show of interest from community members wanting to become more involved with the foundation. "We're trying to open things up so that we create a community of people here that's helping communities of people (there), and just giving people an opportunity to do what they love and have it go somewhere," she says.
People from around the world are encouraged to make use of their talents, skills or resources, anything from art, event organizing, cooking, running marathons or, in the case of Bannister and Wright, climbing a mountain. Participants can use a fundraising platform on the Obakki Foundation website, and will be supported along the way in reaching their goals.
To further drum up interest, Obakki has launched a corresponding competition, seeing the individual or group that raises the most money in a six-month period be awarded an all-expenses-paid philanthropic mission trip for two to Cameroon, accompanying Peake, in November 2015.
Peake is pleased to have Bannister and Wright help launch the campaign. "They really do embody everything we're looking for with these Live with a Purpose participants," she says.
While Bannister and Wright are not eligible for the prize, they remain fully committed to meeting their goal. "The pursuit of mountain climbing I always found a little bit selfish, it's a lot of me time. And we wanted to have something that had a bigger purpose," says Bannister.
The brothers-in-law, who work together in real estate development and construction, have been training for the climb for months. Both lead active lives, for example, Bannister is an avid runner, rider and skier. Also, both enjoying climbing. "We both really like being able to participate in an activity that's right in our backyard. We live in an amazing place. It's a great place to train," says Bannister.
In addition, they've done several climbs in the Cascades - Mount Baker and Mount Rainier included. "When I climbed Kilimanjaro, it sort of put a little bee in my bonnet about finding other big interesting mountains to climb. Stephen is a little more of a climber than I am, he pursues lots of peaks," says Bannister.
Aconcagua will provide a unique challenge. At 6,960 metres, it's the tallest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas and is one of the Seven Summits. The duo will be on Aconcagua for just over two weeks, and they expect the days to be long and tiring. They'll be carrying their own gear up and down the mountain as they establish four camps up from base camp.
"The mountain is non-technical, meaning it doesn't require a lot of proficiency in ice climbing or rock climbing, but it requires a huge amount of fitness and ability to acclimatize tremendously because it's really high and we don't take oxygen. (And, we'll be) battling the cold. Cold weather injuries are a big issue on the climb," says Bannister.
They're preparing for temperatures as low as -40 C on the summit and high winds. The mountain is very exposed as there are few peaks similar in height around it.
The climbers will leave the Lower Mainland Dec. 26 and plan to embark on their climb Dec. 29. They expect to be back in Vancouver on Jan. 19, 2015.
Bannister and Wright have so far raised approximately $6,000 for Obakki and their funds will be earmarked for girls' and women's education projects in Africa.
Family men, they're both married fathers of three. Bannister is a dad to kids ages 10, nine and seven, and Wright to kids ages 23, 22 and 14. They're grateful for the continued support from their loved ones.
"They're excited for me," says Bannister. "It's a real family affair to try and get away for a month-long trip. And putting yourself in a little bit of harm's way I guess, you have to convince your wife it's the right thing to do," he adds.
Wright, 50, who lives in Vancouver, is pleased to see his children already showing signs of following in his footsteps. "(After) I started to take on my training for this seriously, my daughter has actually gone on quite a few backpacking and outdoor (trips), some pretty strenuous ones, in a specific outdoor club in her school, and she'd never done anything like that before. We'd just done family camping, a bit of car camping. She wanted to get a backpack and see what would happen, sleeping when it's frosty outside. She was a trooper, it was amazing," he says.
Wright hopes that impact continues to trickle out into the community, helping their peers realize they too are capable of doing something for the betterment of others.
"We're just everyday folks and everyday folks can really take on some pretty big stuff and still somehow make it all fit in their schedule," he says.
Live with a Purpose competition submissions will be accepted until Jan. 31, 2015. Fundraising will run from March through to July 2015, and the winner will be announced Aug. 3, 2015.
obakkifoundation.org
