BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 When Dylan Stroup first saw Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa\u2019s highest mountain didn\u2019t look quite as imposing as he expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the first day you see Kilimanjaro and it looks very manageable and it doesn\u2019t seem that big,\u201d Stroup said in a video recorded during his climb.<\/p>\n
That perspective would change over more than a week as the Bethlehem man made his way toward Kilimanjaro\u2019s 19,341-foot summit. The trek included snow, a 16-hour stretch on foot and a middle-of-the-night push to reach the summit at sunrise.<\/p>\n
When Stroup finally reached the top, he recorded the moment on his phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made it to the top of Kilimanjaro,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The achievement culminated a test of mind and body for Stroup, a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem. It also came during a period of profound personal loss: Stroup left on the fundraising mission one day after his sister died.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to the top, everything melted away,\u201d Stroup said. \u201cEvery single piece of motivation melted away. All of the work I had done just disappeared, and I was in a moment of being fully present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Climb raises $55,000 for Bethlehem kids<\/p>\n
Stroup\u2019s climb raised $55,000 in just two months for the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Stroup paid for his own trip, allowing every dollar donated through the fundraiser to go to the 96-year-old organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis organization is small enough to make a meaningful impact on the hundreds of kids that it serves,\u201d Stroup said. \u201cSo, I think that this is going to make the Boys and Girls Club of Bethlehem reinvigorate it to make a difference in the lives of more kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
The money will be used for facility upgrades at the Boys & Girls Club.<\/p>\n
But club head Winston Alozie believes Stroup\u2019s accomplishment could have another kind of impact on the children it serves.<\/p>\n
Asked what kids might take from seeing someone from Bethlehem climb a mountain in Africa, Alozie said the accomplishment could expand their sense of what is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows them the world isn\u2019t small,\u201d Alozie said. \u201cThey can go and do and be anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the money Stroup raised will improve the club\u2019s building, he hopes the example of his climb reaches beyond its walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to sit on your couch and just think about stuff,\u201d Stroup said. \u201cIt is possible to take those ideas and turn it into reality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 When Dylan Stroup first saw Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa\u2019s highest mountain didn\u2019t look quite as imposing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[214,119,121,120,1391,9868,805],"class_list":["post-278540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-_homepage_top_stories","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-bethlehem-area","tag-good-news","tag-lehighvalley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}