A London schoolboy has raised more than £3,000 for Camp Simcha by climbing one of Britain’s highest peaks as part of his Bar Mitzvah celebrations.
Sean Young, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in September, spent five and a half hours trekking to the top of Mount Snowdon to support the charity last month (August).
Wales’ highest mountain stands at 1,085 metres (3,560 feet). It is the highest point in the British Isles outside of the Scottish Highlands.
Donations have flooded in to Sean’s online fundraising page after he completed the challenge alongside his father James, 51.
Explaining his motivation, Sean, who attends UCS in Hampstead, said: “As I am turning 13 and celebrating my Bar Mitzvah, I wanted to take on this challenge to climb Mount Snowdon. I feel blessed to have had a wonderful childhood and want to raise money for children, who have not had it so easy.
“Camp Simcha does so much good – gives children support, some amazing adventures, summer camps and fulfils dreams.”
Mr Young, who works in the financial industry, said that all three of Sean’s older siblings have supported Camp Simcha at this milestone time – but that he is the first to have undertaken such a challenge.
“The idea came about two months ago,” he said. “I’m Swiss so I like mountains. So we looked up what the highest mountains in Britain are and came up with Mount Snowdon.”
While Sean enjoys sports such as tennis, basketball, football and skiing, he had never undertaken this kind of feat. His father said: “It was challenging on the way up but we were lucky to have blue skies, which made it enjoyable and a good way to spend time together raising money for Camp Simcha.”
The family, who are members of Brondesbury Park synagogue where Sean was Bar Mitzvahed, have long been supporters of Camp Simcha.
“We have been quite connected to Camp Simcha for a long time,” said Mr Young, who works in real estate. “One of the reasons is that my nephew has muscular dystrophy and he and his family were supported by Camp Simcha and he went twice to camp in America.
“We think it’s just a great charity and one that really makes a difference to children and their families.”
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