Feel Good Fundraising: Flo in the sky with diamonds

In our ‘Feel Good Fundraising’ series, Bamboo’s digital marketing apprentice, Georgie, follows up on the stories of inspirational volunteer fundraisers to ask them the questions no one’s thought to ask.

Georgie, it’s over to you.

While googling inspiring fundraisers, I came across Katie Pollard.

I was touched by her story as, after Katie lost her best friend, Flo, she decided to face her fear of heights to raise money in Flo’s memory.

Flo had always wanted to do a skydive, but Katie had never had a desire to throw herself out of a plane.

But she wanted to fulfill Flo’s wish, so made the jump to raise money for Young Minds Matter.

I reached out to Katie to find out more.

How was the experience?

“I took part in training before the jump. I was briefed on all the positions to adopt (when falling out of the plane, descending, and landing) and every stage of the jump was explained, in detail. This put my mind at ease … for a while.

In the air, my anxiety rose as people launched themselves out of the plane. I was the last one to jump.

I started to panic as I got near the ledge but told myself 'there’s only one way down,' and before I knew it, me and my instructor were falling.

It was terrifying, but amazing at the same time. My favourite part was when the parachute was pulled, and we gently glided down to earth. My instructor was pulling the parachute strings, making us do spirals and turns, which was amazing. It was like a theme park ride.

The skydive consisted of 60 seconds of free falling and five minutes of gliding. But it went super quickly. With all the adrenaline and excitement, it felt like it was over in seconds.

The view was incredible. I did the jump in Salisbury, but you could see Southampton and the Isle of Wight from that high up.

As soon as we landed, I felt on top of the world. I couldn't believe what I had just done. I was proud of myself and knew how happy and proud Flo would have been. I was buzzing for the rest of the day.”

Would you do it again?

“The build-up was worse than the actual jump. I was terrified as the plane took off. But once we started falling, all my nerves disappeared.

I’m still scared of heights, but the experience was so thrilling I would love to do it again. Although I would want to do it in summer as it was -20 degrees in the air!