Kitchener's Mikayla and Maria Flikkema will be participating in their fifth WWF-Canada CN Tower climb this month. They’ve raised around $12,000 so far and hope to raise $5,000 this year.Handout
The organizers: Maria and Mikayla Flikkema
The pitch: raising $17,000 and climbing
The cause: WWF-Canada
Mikayla Flikkema was 12 years old when she watched the movie Two Brothers and immediately wanted to do something to help animals.
The film is about the adventures of two Asian tigers who are separated as cubs and taken into captivity, only to be reunited years later as forced enemies.
“Obviously, I couldn’t go to Asia to actually help the tigers,” Mikayla, now 17, recalled from the family’s home in Kitchener, Ont. “So my mom suggested the CN Tower climb.”
The annual climb up the tower – all 1,776 steps – raises money for WWF-Canada and Mikayla’s mother, Maria, had heard about it on Facebook. “I suggested it to her not really thinking she was going to get this enthusiastic about it,” Ms. Flikkema said. “And I kind of said, ‘well, I guess I have to put my money where my mouth is.’”
The mother and daughter did the climb together in 2017 and they raised nearly $1,000. “I had a lot of fun,” said Mikayla. “It was just a fun experience to do with my mom.”
They decided to make it an annual outing and this month the Flikkemas will make their fifth trek up the tower. They’ve raised more than $16,000 in total so far and they hope to bring in $5,000 this year. They even did a virtual climb in 2020 when the event was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ms. Flikkema, 49, said they try to do some training beforehand and they’ve managed to get their time for the climb to around 30 minutes. Mikayla is keen to keep up the yearly climb. When asked how many more years she and mom will keep climbing, she replied: “Until my mother is old, probably, and can’t go any more.”
Paul Waldie