Urban Adventures is inviting travellers and the industry to join the city tour operator on 28 February and donate to the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation.
For the charitable campaign the company will donate its proceeding from select tours departing that day.
The day will also give travellers the option to give back either by joining an Urban Adventures tour on the 28th or by donating directly to the foundation. Travellers are also being encouraged to share a message of hope via social media.
Proceeds from tours departing on 28 February 2015, in Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Lima, Tokyo, Prague, Philadelphia, Siem Reap, Yangon, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Sydney, Perth, and Delhi, and departing on 1 March 2015, in Toronto will be donated to the cause.
Urban Adventures’ fundraising efforts are in response to the HOPE for Skye initiative, which is part of a wider ‘Hope’ awareness campaign by the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation.
Skye Robson, the five-year-old girl at the heart of the HOPE for Skye campaign, is the daughter of Urban Adventures’ former General Manager, Mark Robson. Sky has Sanfilippo Syndrome, “a rare genetic condition that causes fatal brain damage” as explained by the foundation.
“It is referred to as a childhood disease because most patients never reach adulthood…. Over time, brain cells fill up with waste that the body is unable to process.”
Mark Robson, Urban Adventures former General Manager
“As the brain gets progressively damaged, children experience hyperactivity, sleeplessness, loss of speech and cognitive skills, mental retardation, cardiac issues, seizures, loss of mobility, dementia and finally death, usually before adulthood.”
In addition to raising funds via tour donations, Urban Adventures is also asking people around the world to share their views of blue skies on social media, tagged #blueSkyforSkye, to send a message of hope for Skye and other children like her.
People can also use the hashtag #HopeforSkye to help raise awareness.
Fundraising lunch events will also be taking place in Urban Adventures and Intrepid Travel’s Melbourne and Toronto offices.