Epps Christian Center's Sylvia Tisdale will be hiking the tallest mountain in Africa

When Sylvia Tisdale, founder and pastor of Epps Christian Ministries, turned 70 last October, she had accomplished all the goals she wanted in life.

Her food bank ministry was well established, her children and grandchildren were successful, and so she didn't know which way to turn.

"When I turned 70, I felt that was the end for me," Tisdale said. "I actually went to my door and I thought my chariot was coming for me like Elijah and when my chariot didn't come to get me I was like, 'OK, what now Lord?'"

That's when she later got a call from her daughter, Ruth, who told her she was going to climb Mount Kilimanjaro — that this opportunity was the closest she was going to get to heaven on Earth and wanted to bring her along.

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Now, Tisdale will be embarking on a journey to climb the highest mountain in Africa on June 8-15.

Ruth Tisdale has traveled to over 55 countries and inherited her adventurous lifestyle from her mother. For Ruth, pushing herself to the limit by doing extreme things like skydiving and climbing helps her push herself to accomplish the next goal and never be complacent. Her favorite saying is "You can't pour from an empty glass," and even though her mother has poured so much in the community, Ruth felt no one was pouring into her mother's glass.

"She was kind of battling those senses, that sense of depression. She herself was empty," Rush said about her mother. "And even though she kept giving to the community, like there was a part of her that was empty, and needed to be filled. And I think that this adventure really has filled up her cup again and she has things to look forward to."

Tisdale has spent years helping people in her community of Brownsville with food, IDs, finding jobs and other services. But what she wanted to do was use the opportunity of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for a larger cause.

"The lack of food security in families needed someone to spearhead that or instigate that and then the funds of getting food to this area was lacking," Tisdale said. "So I said, well let's incorporate two reasons for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. One is to bring awareness to food insecurity in this area, this area being the poorest area of Escambia County, and No. 2, to bring funds in to help supply that need."

In the county 1 in 5 people live below the poverty line, 54.2% of children live below the poverty line, 75% of children qualify for free or reduced lunch and 62% of Escambia County residents live in food deserts, which are neighborhoods with little or no access to affordable or healthy foods.

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Tisdale and Epps Christian Center help alleviate this situation by feeding 400 families, serving 200 breakfasts, giving out about 3,000 cups of coffee a week and serving over 6,000 individuals a month.

Tisdale started a GoFundMe with a goal of $25,000 to help fill their storage containers to continue to feed the hungry within Brownsville and hopes to continue with any donations she can raise from her climb.

The hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet and will take them eight days and seven nights. Tisdale and her daughter will be accompanied by her experts who have taken people to the top before and will coach the family along the way.

Tisdale has also been working out every day to prepare for her climb. She started to work out in January and now goes to the gym every day for two hours. For her, even when she goes home the gym continues to "call her" and motivates her to continue to stay in shape.

"I can tell you that's the greatest thing that could have happened to me," Tisdale said. "Because mentally, I feel really great. I have more energy than I used to have. Physically, I feel my body has gotten into better shape and spiritually I feel, because of the time of being in the gym and meditating, I feel really great about that. And so I feel mentally physically and spiritually ready. And it amazes me that all of these 70 years of my life, I had never worked out in the gym."

The new adventure of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and giving back to her community is something Tisdale said she hopes will inspire others. That no matter how young or old you are, there is always a meaning to life and we have to get up and go find it instead of sitting around.

"This is impacting and inspiring and motivating so many people because people at age 70 think life is over for them and they have, like I did, potentially given up. And then people under 70 think that, 'Oh, I can't do anything,'" Tisdale said. "And so now people under 70 will say, 'Well, if she can do it, I know I can do it,' and then the people at 70 and over say, 'If she can do it, I can do it.' There is life, age is just a number."

To donate to Sylvia Tisdale's fundraiser for Climbing To End Hunger in Escambia County! go to her GoFundMe.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola's Sylvia Tisdale hiking Mount Kilimanjaro to aid the hungry