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Earlier this year Carmen and her daughter stopped by the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) shop in Cheltenham. She started chatting with the shop Manager and told him that she wanted to do some fundraising for us and had signed up for a Finland Canoe Challenge in the summer.
We absolutely loved that idea and couldn’t wait to find out more from Carmen. We sent her a fundraising pack and kept in touch as she started raising money. Carmen had a lot of support from her family, friends and local community, including her music group, Music for Adults, who put on several concerts over the summer and sold raffle tickets to win some awesome prizes including a wonderful blanket knitted by Carmen herself!
Canoe catastrophe!
A few months before Carmen was due to leave for her canoe trip, she heard from the challenge company that it had been cancelled. In this moment Carmen could have given up, or switched to a different challenge that she wasn’t as excited by, but no! After sitting down and having a chat with her daughter Kirsty, she decided that nothing was going to keep her from her goal, and she would plan the trip herself with her daughter.
An adventurous spirit
Carmen found a canoe hire company, planned her flights, transport and camping kit, and set off for Finland on 20 July 2023, just a couple of weeks later than originally planned.
Carmen and Kirsty had a fabulous week canoeing over 30 km just inside the Arctic Circle, wild camping on beaches, cooking on a fire and keeping a wary eye out for bears!
After returning from Finland, Carmen and Joanne, from the Music for Adults group, came by the GWAAC office to drop off her fundraising total — an amazing £2,050!
Thank you, Carmen, for having your wonderful adventure for us. The amount raised will fund a potentially lifesaving mission for someone in need of urgent critical care.
If Carmen has inspired you to go on an adventure and raise money for GWAAC, give our Events Manager a call or email, she would love to hear your ideas. Contact: charlie.rowen@gwaac.com
More information can be found on the events page of our website.
