{"id":19112,"date":"2024-07-01T15:03:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=19112"},"modified":"2025-01-04T10:03:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T15:03:22","slug":"scaling-new-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/scaling-new-heights\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaling New Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Melissa Richardson ’13DNP isn’t a practiced hiker or camping enthusiast. But when her pastor proposed that she climb Mount Kilimanjaro with the mission’s team to raise money for children in need, she didn\u2019t hesitate to say yes. \u201cI had visited my church\u2019s sister congregation in Nairobi, Kenya, and saw firsthand the extreme poverty experienced there,\u201d says Richardson, a family nurse practitioner and nurse manager at RWJBarnabas Health\u2019s Somerset Family Practice. \u201cI embraced the challenge of the climb because I knew we could have a tangible impact on the children of that community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About eight months ahead of her departure, she began training. She climbed countless flights of stairs and took hours-long hikes, all while simulating the low oxygen conditions she\u2019d encounter on the mountain. And though she knew that climbing Africa\u2019s highest freestanding peak would be no easy task, she is the first to admit that the hike was far more challenging than she anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For eight grueling days, Richardson navigated treacherous terrain and relentless inclines along the Lemosho Route, a challenging path that tested her endurance and determination every step of the way. \u201cDay two was a defining day,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThe excitement and anticipation had worn off and I wasn\u2019t sure I was going to make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized this task was beyond my physical capabilities and, over the course of the climb, I got to the point where I physically didn\u2019t think I could take another step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the physical and mental strain, Richardson ultimately achieved her goal, arriving at the mountain\u2019s summit on the morning of Feb. 7. \u201cI prayed my way up that mountain,\u201d she admits, adding that meditating on a particular scripture (Philippians 4:13, \u201cI can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me\u201d) got her through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true culmination of Richardson\u2019s efforts came when she arrived a few days later at the Biafra School in Nairobi, where roughly 250 children attend preschool through eighth grade. During her visit, Richardson had the privilege of meeting the children and serving them lunch, made possible thanks to the funds she raised. She was told that it was the first day every student at the school had lunch since its founding. \u201cThese are children who don\u2019t necessarily know where their next meal is coming from, and still, they\u2019re all smiles,\u201d she says. \u201cWe talked about their dreams and what they want to be when they grow up. It really motivated me to do more to help them reach their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Richardson hopes to continue to empower and uplift the community by raising funds for school supplies and desks, providing health education and prevention, and connecting students and parents with teaching, construction, healthcare, and other professionals. \u201cMany of these children do very well in school but don\u2019t have the resources to continue their education,\u201d she says. \u201cI met one young lady who finished high school and wants to be a nurse. That would be a way out of poverty for her whole family and is far more than what we can do with our fundraising. If we can continue to help them move through school and trade school, the whole community can experience a turnaround one family at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Richardson\u2019s Mount Kilimanjaro trek helped raise funds for children in need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":19118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-back"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"The Back","issue":"Spring\/Summer 2024","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20149,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19112\/revisions\/20149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}