SUMMIT, NJ - So far in 2009, Kara Richardson Whitely has run in Central Park at midnight for UNICEF, jumped in icy Lake Champlain, Vermont for Special Olympics, walked amid monkeys and alligators for the MS Society, walked/jogged where Washington slept for National Parks and walked the Flying Pig Marathon course to benefit the American Heart Association.
She is taking on a physical event for charity each month of the year -- an initiative she calls the Save the World Diet. This Save the World Diet movement -- of taking action steps toward better health and a better world -- was inspired by her 2007 trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The journey to Africa’s highest peak was not only a celebration of her 120-pound weight loss, it was a fund raiser for Global Alliance for Africa’s AIDS orphans programs. She couldn’t justify not getting out of bed to train when a child needed fresh water, an education, a chance.
After the birth of her daughter a year later, she was left with about 50 pounds of baby weight to lose all over again. She remembered how motivating it was to be working for a cause as well as a fitness goal. She signed up for an event each month of 2009, knowing that it would allow her to go from feeling helpless about her weight and the problems in the world to feeling empowered and strong.
So far this year, she’s down several pounds, feeling great and has raised thousands of dollars for charities. By the year’s end her treks up mountains and down the scale will help AIDS orphans, those with Leukemia & Lymphoma and at-risk youth. She will also dance for food at a Cancan for Hunger, and bicycle 220 miles from Hershey, Pa. (away from all of that chocolate) to New York City for Breast Cancer patients.
The next challenge is June 6, a Shenandoah Mountain hike for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program. The year will end with another Kilimanjaro climb for AIDS orphans. (There are a few spots left on the trek, if folks would like to join her!)
Kara is the founder of www.fatwomanonthemountain.com, a website to inform and inspire others on their weight loss journey, and a contributor on www.raisedpath.com. She is a finalist in the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Casting Call competition. She was a speaker at the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Luncheon, where she also introduced Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs. Kara has been a newspaper journalist (interned at the Star Ledger, now at the Courier News) for a decade.
Her story of conquering Camel’s Hump a decade after it had left her winded and beaten was featured in Self magazine. Kara grew up in South Burlington, Vt. and is a member of the Green Mountain Club and the American Hiking Society. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter. They recently moved from Short Hills to Summit.
She is doing the Shenandoah Hike for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this weekend. To contribute to her efforts, please visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/nnj/shenhke09/kwhitely
Kara is looking for fellow adventurers to join her on her trek up Mount Kilimanjaro to benefit AIDS orphans, her Save the World Diet finale. The two-week trip leaves December 26 and will include a safari and a jaunt to Zanzibar as a reward. Email her at kara@fatwomanonthemountain.com about how to get involved.