McDyer’s goal is to raise more than $10,000 for HCNR—a total greater than any of her past fundraising efforts.

A History of Fundraising

McDyer, a Somerville resident who works in technology, found her love of fundraising by chance.

Concerned about women who couldn’t afford mammograms, McDyer

started off her fundraising efforts with two breast cancer walks three years ago.

She says that although she had always contributed to fundraising campaigns, she’d never participated in one before.

Following the breast cancer walks, a series of coincidences brought her to a seven-day, 75-mile trek across the South African wilderness last summer to raise money for AIDS research. In this effort, she raised $10,000—mostly from individuals she knew and matching company grants.

But she has never climbed a mountain to raise money.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

McDyer’s interest in Mt. Kilimanjaro was piqued by the showing of the IMAX film Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa six months ago at the Museum of Science in Boston.

She was intrigued and began to pick up books about Africa’s tallest mountain.

McDyer then contacted Tusker Trail and Safari Co., a company that arranges group climbs in Africa. McDyer decided to leave Boston on July 4, start the climb on July 8 and reach the top on July 13.

“I wanted to reach the top the night of a full moon,” she says. “And starting off on the fourth of July, American Independence Day, might inspire people to sponsor me.”

Mt. Kilimanjaro is far more accessible than a mountain like Everest, says Eddie W. Frank, the founder of Tusker Trail and Safari Co.

“Almost anyone can do it,” he says.“I’ve climbed it 21 times in 27 years, and we’ve run hundreds of climbs.”