The Story behind Sky-High for Roger’s House

Sky-High for Roger’s House is a Kilimanjaro charity climb to raise funds for the program Dancing in the Rain for Roger’s House. This initiative was brought forward by two former Roger’sHouse clients, Sophie Rosa and Angelo Garcia. They met through the bereavement group at Roger’s House in January 2010; Sophie had lost her youngest son, Simon, to a drowning accident during a school outing, while Angelo lost his oldest son Misha to brain cancer.  Sophie and Angelo, both outdoors enthusiasts, quickly became friends and remained in close contact after they left the Roger’s House bereavement group.

Long before meeting each other, both Sophie and Angelo had planned to climb Kilimanjaro. Sophie was in training to climb when her son passed away, while Angelo and his son had planned to climb Kilimanjaro together. However, the return of Misha’s tumour kept them from fulfilling their dream. In his will, Misha asked his father to scatter his ashes on top of Kilimanjaro so they may still reach the highest peak of Africa together. 

During the Roger’s House Telethon in March 2011, Sophie and Angelo were sitting next to one another answering phones and taking donations when Angelo confided he was looking into climbing Kilimanjaro to scatter Misha’s ashes. It instantly renewed Sophie’s desire to do the climb and they committed on that very night to doing a charity climb for Roger’s House.