When Barbara Hopkins sets her sights on reaching the Base Camp of Mount Everest, she’ll be taking the hopes and dreams of countless children with her.

Hopkins, a library media coordinator in the Evidence-Based Learning Department, has decided to make her daunting 17-day trek a fund-raising effort for an organization dedicated to increasing literacy rates in third-world countries. 

As she trains for the grueling climb that starts Nov. 4, she’s also pounding the pavement in search of donations to support Room to Read, which works to publish books, train teachers, support girls in their drives to finish secondary school, and establish school and public libraries in all parts of the globe.

Hopkins says this on her blog, which she hopes to update with journal entries and photos during her journey:  “Literacy has always been a passion of mine. Reading came easy to me; I have been in love with books my whole life and I believe my life has been changed by the journey they have engaged me in. I want all children to have the magic and wonder that I have found in books! I also want them to have the numerous opportunities that are made available to them by becoming literate.”

Hopkins’ personal fund-raising goal is $1,000. You can donate on a web page she created with the help of Room to Read. 

“This is about doing something I believe in … It’s also about me giving back,” says Hopkins, who is running in the mornings and hiking every weekend to prepare for her trip.  “Life has taught me that it’s short, and there are some things I want do in life, and that some of those things are hard.  But life has also taught me that I can do hard things.”