Help me achieve my team goal of wellness & community impact!

When I joined the PayPal Amsterdam office in 2020, we were at the beginning of what would be a two-year period of working from home. I was encouraged by my manager at the time to come up with an engagement activity that would promote wellness, and the October Walking Challenge was born. This year will be our fourth iteration of a now cherised tradition. We have attempted to walk the distance (in steps) between Harlingen and Hoegaarden (some did it twice over); we have walked in solo and in teams; we have worked towards goals of consistency, as well as most steps or longest distance; rain, or shine; with and without kids or puppies; we even turned our weekly team meeting into a walking meeting. Every walking challenge so far has been fun with a healthy dose of competition and fresh air, with many a photo of a countryside vista thrown in for good measure.

As October approaches, I am personally looking forward to what is arguably my favorite team activity of the year, and this year for the first time we will be raising money for a good cause. Inspired by my colleague Irene, whose sister battled leukemia in 2021, we will be raising money for Matchis, the Dutch Center for Stem Cell Donors. Every year 9000 people in the Netherlands are diagnosed with blood cancer such as leukemia. For these patients, a stem cell transplant is often a last chance at recovery. A stem cell transplant requires a donor who is a perfect match to the patient and for that perfect match, an extensive pool of registered donors is needed. By walking together this October, we hope raise awareness for Matchis and raise funds that will be allocated towards the recruitment, typing and registration of new stem cell donors. Increasing the chance of a donor match and a future for patients with blood cancer.

If you do not know much about stem cell donation and what it takes to become a donor, not to worry, neither did I, but I encourage you to click over to the Matchis site and inform yourself. You might just be inspired to become a donor, but regardless I hope you will also consider donating to our ‘Samen sterk voor Matchis’ (Strong Together for Matchis) team fundraiser.

I will be walking 30 minutes a day for the 31 days of October (930 minutes). I hope to personally raise €0,25 for every minute that I walk, or €232,50 towards our team goal of €2000!