First Lady’s half marathon donations hit Sh189m mark
By PSCU
Donations towards First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s Half Marathon hit the Sh189 million mark on Wednesday when more sponsors topped the kitty with an additional Sh 50 million.
And with only three days to go before the First Lady flags off the 3rd edition of the marathon on Sunday at Nyayo National Stadium, the number of runners who had listed up hit the 35,000 mark today as more Kenyans streamed to the registration centres to beat the Friday deadline.
The event is expected to attract 70,000 participants from across Kenya.
The financial donations raised to-date augment the funds raised from Kenyans through their registration and participation in the marathon event on Sunday.
During today’s function at State House, Merck Limited, a Pharmaceutical Company from Germany gave Sh 25 million which was topped up by both Amref and Chase Bank Foundation who jointly gave another Sh 20 million.
Other sponsors included Beta Healthcare International Limited who gave Sh 2 million while Eminent Persons from Murang’a, East African Portland and Bidco Africa Limited gave Sh 1 million each.
The rest of the donations came from Murang’a County Initiative (MCI) and the Kenya Charity Sweepstake who donated Sh 500,000 each.
The Young Christian Women Peace Network Ladies and employees of Barclays Bank Murang’a gave another Sh 100,000 each. Various Church organizations from across the country donated another Sh 170,000.
Besides purchasing the remaining eleven fully kitted mobile clinics for an equal number of counties, the funds raised during the Sunday marathon will be used to refurbish hospital wards across the country and also ensure all the mobile clinics remain functional and in good shape.
So far, the Beyond Zero Campaign has distributed 36 Mobile Clinics to 36 counties.
The First Lady also plans to set up a state-of-the art hospital for women and children as the ultimate goal of the Beyond Zero campaign.
The First Lady thanked the donors saying the funds will make the desired changes in the health of women and children. She specifically thanked the partnership between Chase Bank and Amref who plan to train 400 healthcare workers to be deployed in the Mobile clinics that the Beyond Zero has been distributing across the country.
Later, the First Lady held discussions with top officials of Merck Limited led by the Regional Vice President for Central and East Europe, Middle East and Africa Mr Erich Nobis and Regional Marketing Director Mr. Michael Flath.
Their discussions centred on health issues and over a national campaign that the Pharmaceutical firm plans to kick off in Kenya in April concerning nutrition and the benefits of their products that promote good health among Kenyans.
The company are the makers of the popular “Seven Seas” Cord Liver Oil.
The First Lady is the patron of the scale-up nutrition initiative in Kenya.
The company is expected to provide a proposal on how the group intends to partner with the Beyond Zero and how their operations will support the cause of the Beyond Zero initiative.
The First Lady also held private discussions with renown author Muthoni Likimani.
