I have long been a fan of Steve Richert and his insane addiction to climbing stuff.

He and his small team at Living Vertical have been on an amazing journey to spread diabetes awareness.  It’s called Project 365, and his mission is to climb every single day for a year straight, filming all of it for a documentary.  He’s well into this adventure, and he could use a little help from us.

Check out this short YouTube video (video no longer available), and if you like it, then “Like” it.  For each “Like” he gets on the video, Roche will donate $1 (up to $15,000) towards Steve’s organization (an IRS approved 501c3 non-profit).

I got to meet Steve in person last month and I really like him.  He flew in to Indianapolis to present at the last Roche summit.  It was a great presentation and a fun opportunity to get to chat with Steve.  I was really curious how he managed to find time to climb when he’s travelling.  I usually get caught up in the chaotic schedule and can’t find the time to do anything!

I asked him about it the next day.  His answer blew me away.  There we are in the middle of downtown Indianapolis, average elevation of 717 feet (compared to 6,700 feet in Wyoming, for example), and not a mountain in sight.  He was having coffee with some family downtown that morning and on his way back he spotted an alley that looked climbable. So right there, in the middle of a downtown alleyway, he climbed about 30 feet up the side of a building.

How amazing (crazy) is that?

He is doing some amazing things in the name of diabetes awareness.  He and his wife took a huge risk in setting off on this adventure, and our support costs us nothing but a click of the mouse.  Besides, we need him to finish so we can see the incredible documentary he’s filming!

Thanks for all you do Steve!

— If you’d like to hear more from Steve, we had the pleasure of featuring him on DSMA Live in December of 2011.