Hello everyone. My name is Fernando Vázquez and the young lady in the picture is my climbing partner, Raveena Alli. And yes, as you can probably already guess, Raveena is completely blind. For the past few years, I’ve had the privilege to volunteer as a sight guide for Raveena. Raveena is a wonderful person, both on and off the wall. As a team, we have been able to share some amazing experiences, we have undertaken big challenges, and we have been able to show that with perseverance, dedication, and hard work we can accomplish goals that many people would believe impossible. But we might need a little help on the next step of our journey. In 2024 I had the honor to accompany Raveena to compete in the USA Paraclimbing National Championship, where she earned a spot to represent her country on the world stage. We went on to compete in one of last year’s World Cup events for the International Federation of Sports Climbing (IFSC), where she took a Bronze medal. This past spring, we competed again at the US Nationals and earned a spot to represent the US. But this time around, our goals were to aim a bit higher… and fly a bit further. Raveena and I will be part of the team representing the USA in the IFSC Paraclimbing World Championships in Bern, Switzerland! And we would appreciate a little bit of your help. For those who might be curious, blind people can indeed climb, and very, very well. A fascinating aspect of many blind climbers’ performances is the support of their sight guide, their “caller”. It’s a great joy for us to be a part of someone else’s climbing journey. Unfortunately, this also puts an extra burden on the athletes as they have to make sure their callers can travel with them. For blind climbers, things can get pricey pretty quickly. As I mentioned earlier, my service to Raveena is completely on a volunteer basis. That means I don’t currently ask for any compensation. Nevertheless, Raveena’s lovely and supportive family has always been graceful to assist with some travel expenses. But this time the expenses that come with international travel are a bit higher than usual, around $2500. Being away from my hourly job for the amount of time needed for the competition means an even bigger sacrifice in order to follow through with my commitment to her. And you can be certain that I will follow through. That’s where people like you can help us out. Please contribute with as little or as much as you can to allow me to serve Raveena to the best of my ability. The money we raise will be to cover travel, lodging, and food expenses, and any remaining money will be put back to helping Raveena with her athletic journey for as long as she’s willing, and as far or high as she wishes to take it. Thanks again for your support and love.
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