07 August 2019

Brit walking 2600 miles from Mexico to Canada

for Underdog International

Paul Freeman has taken a six-month sabbatical from his job at a satellite operator to walk from Mexico to Canada to raise awareness and funds for Underdog International, a UK registered charity that connects children and animals. 

The charity's aim is to encourage kindness, compassion and resilience,

their goal to positively impact one million children by 2025 through the provision of animal assisted therapy, global youth projects and dog adoption from all over the world.

Despite no previous experience of hiking or mountaineering across long distances, Paul has undertaken this gargantuan task to walk 2600 miles - nearly 100 marathons - averaging 25 miles a day. He began his trek in April and has so far walked over 1800 miles, having successfully hiked the entire state of California, and is now making his way through Oregon.

Paul is doing this on his own without a support crew. Everything he needs is carried in his rucksack which weighs around 15 kilos, however while hiking through the High Sierras mountain range, Paul's pack increased to 20kgs to account for extra equipment and food required for the significant snow conditions (the highest snow fall in 30 years). Paul is aiming to finish his epic walk by September 2019.

On his route from Mexico to Canada, crossing the United States, he will walk through snake-infested deserts, wild bear country and climb the highest mountain range in the US (High Sierras). He'll pass by a thousand lakes, traverse sixty major mountain passes and walk through nineteen canyons, and possibly encounter the indigenous populations of rattle snakes, black widow spiders, scorpions, mountain lions and bears. Adverse weather conditions including intense heat, lightning storms and fires plus the risk of hypothermia and dehydration are all possible challenges to be overcome.

The reason Paul decided to undertake this mammoth challenge was because he wanted to use his wilderness experience of ‘overcoming adversity' and ‘being positive' to demonstrate to children how these life lessons can help with mental health, resilience and compassion. Paul is a huge dog lover and has personally seen the benefit that dogs bring to people's well-being. So, fundraising for Underdog International, which focus on both animal welfare and on children's mental health and well-being, felt like a natural fit with Paul's personal goals.

Follow Paul Freeman's progress on social media via Instagram (@freemanwalks) and to donate visit www.theunderdog.org

ALL IMAGES AVAILABLE IN HIGH-RES ONREQUEST

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Underdog Internationalwas set up as a registered UK Charity in early 2019 by Nadine Kayser, who had previously co-founded Wild at Heart Foundation in 2015, a charity that aims to reduce the world's 600 million stray dog population and become a leading component in the global activity working to address this issue.

Having created the strategic direction, fundraising mechanisms and operational processes Nadine, as CEO, together with the team delivered impressive year-on-year successes:

• Adoption of over 1,400 dogs into happy homes.
• Neutering of over 18,000 dogs, preventing one million unwanted puppies being born into lives of suffering.
• Educating over 20,000 children to understand and be aware of how to treat dogs.

After four years, working at the front line of dog rescue and neutering, Nadine wanted to focus more on the ‘human element' of what she'd learnt over the years - how to make people more compassionate towards animals. Having been involved in education projects across the globe - from China, Swaziland and Romania to Borneo, Greece and the UK - she realised that one extremely effective way to create meaningful and lasting change, was through interacting with children. Not only do the animals benefit, but the children hugely benefit too.

Underdog Internationalaims to positively impact one million children by 2025 through the provision of animal-assisted therapy, global youth projects and dog adoption from all over the world. They advocate sharing life lessons with children to nurture kindness, compassion, positivity and resilience.

Underdog International runs a comprehensive ‘dogs in school' programme and have a UK network of therapy dogs and volunteers who provide life lessons in schools. They plan to roll-out the programme to other countries with Romania, Cyprus and Greece planned for launch in the next 12 months.

Issued on behalf of Underdog International

Contact Nadine Kayser
nadine@theunderdog.org
www.theunderdog.org
07970 204955