100 people make way down outside of 5-story Modesto glass building. Why they did it
Around 50 people bundled up or dressed in costumes on a chilly Saturday morning and looked to the top of the Fifteen 24 Professional Center in Modesto to watch people go down.
Instead of screams of terror, the crowd roared in joy as the rappellers scaled the five-story glass building on McHenry Avenue to help raise money for charity.
LearningQuest, a Modesto-based educational nonprofit organization, hosted the Over the Edge fundraiser on Saturday, Oct. 12. Around 100 people rappelled down the five-story glass building at $1,000 apiece.
The organization raised more than $120,000 from over 200 donors — including local organizations such as Stanislaus State and the Modesto Nuts — which will go toward continuing LearningQuest community programs. They raised more than $20,000 over their initial goal.
Rebecca Sutis, the program director of literacy and ESL at Learning Quest, said despite being in the community for over 30 years, many people aren’t aware of the organization, so this fundraiser was a great opportunity to get their name out there.
“We have a high school equivalency program for adults,” she said. “We have ESL for adults with one-on-one tutoring. It’s all going back into our program so that we can serve more adults in the area.”
While participants watched people rappel down, folks dressed as Star Wars and comic characters walked around and took pictures with kids. Food trucks also arrived and several booths were set up by local organizations such as the Modesto Children’s Museum.
Lynn Dickerson was one of the first rappellers who scaled the building. She wasn’t scared, since this wasn’t her first time doing something like this, but she is happy money is being raised for a good cause.
“It’s a little adrenaline rush,” Dickerson said. “It was fun. Illiteracy is a problem in our area and they do really great work so I’m so happy that the community stepped up and supported it and they made some good money.”
