Sheffield dad climbs 15km on his own stairs for struggling city charity

Father-of-two David Stout, from Nether Edge, completed the feat earlier this month after climbing his single flight of stairs 330 times a day for 15 das – or 5,000 times in total.

He is raising money for the Golddigger Trust, a charity that supports young people in the city which is struggling to raise funds due to the coronavirus crisis.

David decided to take on the challenge after the charity saw two of its major 2020 fundraising events postponed, and in ‘a moment of madness’ set his sights on the unusual achievement.He said: “It took me between two and three hours each day depending on how energetic I was feeling!”

“I just felt compelled to try and help them by attempting to raise a bit of money and hopefully that's what I've managed to achieve.”

David completed the feat at the same time as holding down a full-time job with the Diocese of Sheffield and looking after his two young daughters, one of whom is just eight weeks old.

He said his initial aim was to raise £1,500, but ‘amazingly’ managed to raise that before he'd started, so set a new target of £5,000, and is currently on £6,320.

David’s wife runs the Golddigger Trust, a charity that supports young people face challenges such as low self-esteem, poor mental health, self-harm and suicide.

He added: “Charities such as Golddigger have been put in a really difficult position. The events would have raised £100,000 which is a lot of fundraising that had been budgeted for but can't be achieved.

“Whilst they can furlough staff, most of their workers are needed and young people still need support, particularly when they are separated from the relatively stable environment of school.”

You can still contribute to David’s fundraising effort at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dave-stout.

More information about the Golddigger Trust can be found at www.golddiggertrust.co.uk.