Mishall RehmanThe team that will be making the strenuous climb to the summit of Vinson Massif as part of the True Patriot Love Scotiabank Expedition was announced in October.
The True Patriot Love (TPL) Expedition team consists of nine ill and injured soldiers and 17 Canadian business leaders. To raise awareness and funds for military members and veterans the team will journey to the summit of Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica and one of the world’s Seven Summits in January of 2016.
Some of the members of the Civilian Team include Heather Moyse, Gold Medal Olympian and motivational speaker; Michael Tait the founding partner and EVP of SHOP.ca; Tim Duncanson, Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance and Andy Chisholm Advisory Director Officer of Goldman Sachs.
The Expedition Soldier team consists of nine CAF members from across the country.
Each team will be assigned a team captain. Both captains have summited each of the Seven Summits and the North and the South Pole.
The team captain for the Civilian Team is Scott Kress and for the Soldier Team is Meagan McGrath. TPL has also recruited Dr. Markus H. Besemann, head of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for the Canadian Forces Health Services Group to keep look after the health and safety of the team and Canadian Scientist and veteran Dr. Sarah Dentry-Travis as Team Researcher. Dr. Dentry-Travis will be conducting research for her work at the University of Manitoba about the effects of stress on veterans with PTSD.
In a statement released, Civilian Team Participant Anne-Marie Sorrenti said, “We need to raise funds to increase awareness about veterans’ issues and to fund transition programs for our Canadian soldiers who are suffering from the effects of injuries, both physical and emotional, incurred while on duty. We need to take care of our own. Our soldier team-mates represent all our soldiers who keep us safe and protect us from harm.”
Last year’s True Patriot Love Expedition to the magnetic North Pole raised a total of $2 million for programs and charities that TPL supports.
