A BUSINESS woman based in Bentham, North Yorkshire, hiked up Whernside overnight to help raise over £6,000 for End Youth Homelessness.

Karen Young, director of accountancy and finance at Hays, undertook a solo overnight hike up and down the highest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

She did this while carrying a 23kg backpack which is the approximate weight used in marches in the British Army Military Fitness Test.

She said: “It was a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be, but the thought of all the generous donations kept me going. Knowing that the funds will truly help some of our young people in the UK to get the help they desperately need made it worth the pain.”

The money raised will go directly to End Youth Homelessness’ Employability Fund, which works with homeless young people to access support with education, training and employment. It costs the charity £1,200 to support a homeless young person to a positive education, employability or training outcome and since the funds launch in October 2019 they have achieved positive outcomes with more than 160 young people.

Hays has raised over £75,000 for End Youth Homelessness since partnering with the charity in July 2019.