February 6, 2007

A manager from Teachers Plus Credit Union in Bedford, N.S., is part of a 35-member group preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to help at-risk youth in East Africa.

Jeff Healy has worked for in the credit union system for three years in increasingly responsible roles.  Jeff has completed a marathon and a triathalon and has hiked to the summit of Piz Gloria in Switzerland and Mt Ste-Victoire in France.
 
The Kilimanjaro climb, which starts on Feb. 24, is assisted by the World Council of Credit Unions Inc., United Nations Federal Credit Union, UN-HABITAT and other groups.
 
 The climb will benefit at-risk youth in Kibera, Africa's largest slum which is located on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, with community development projects including establishing self-sustaining job training programs and small businesses, counseling services, crime-free zones and using sport as a means for development and peace.

Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world and the highest peak in Africa at 5,895 metres (19,340 ft).

Tim Challen, a member service representative from United Nations Federal
Credit Union (UNFCU), will lead the second annual, five-day Kilimanjaro
Initiative Climb. The climb aims to empower young people to
become agents of change in society and to bring attention to Kilimanjaro
Initiative's youth-based projects.

The 2007 climb will specifically fund urban safety projects in East Africa, which are supported by UN-HABITAT. Joining Challen on the climb will be youth from around the world.

"We're proud to help bring awareness to a program that unites
communities and uses co-operative principles to empower our future
leaders," said Pete Crear, chief executive officer of WOCCU.

Challen, who works in the UNFCU Geneva Representative Office, founded
the Kilimanjaro Initiative in 2005, two years after he was injured in an
armed robbery while working in Nairobi.

He had planned to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro before his injury, so the Kilimanjaro Initiative Climb grew out of his realization that it would be a symbolic opportunity to raise global awareness on urban safety and collect funds for co-operative projects.

"In hand with the community, we are setting about physical, economic and social development in a durable way," Challen said.

Last year, 25 climbers from the Kilimanjaro Initiative reached the "rooftop of Africa." UN- HABITAT selected the youth who before the climb received training as part of an Outward Bound program funded by UNFCU. The young
people learned to overcome difficulty through perseverance, teamwork and understanding one's environment.

"In taking up Tim's cause, we are realizing the credit union spirit of
'People Helping People' and furthering our commitment to the UN and UN
agency communities in East Africa," said UNFCU president and CEO,
Michael J. Connery, Jr., who reached the summit as part of the 2006
Kilimanjaro Initiative. "We also look forward to building upon our relationship and forging new programs with World Council in the region."

For more information on the climb, visit www.kilimanjaroinitiative.org