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| L-R Sarah Kidd (KC) , Barry Coleman ( CEO, Operations, Riders), Paul Drummond, (KC) Andrea Coleman ( CEO Finance, Riders), Kirsty Newton (KC) |
A Kenyan children’s home and a charity which raises money for motorbikes for health workers in Africa have both benefited from the fundraising efforts of kind-hearted staff at Kingston Communications.
The Kilimani Children’s Home and the Riders for Health* charity will both be substantially better off thanks to Kingston Communications’ business sales team, which held a charity evening, race night, auction and grand draw at the new KC Stadium last month.
The event – which raised nearly £6,500 – was made possible by the generosity of many local companies, who rallied round to donate hundreds of raffle and auction prizes, ranging from weekend breaks and days out to electrical goods and wine.
One of the highlights of the event was an auction for an all-inclusive African safari, which had generously been donated by Tom Fernandes, chairman of Wildlife Safari Kenya Limited, who had asked for some of the proceeds to be donated to the Kilimani children’s home.
This holiday of a lifetime went to highest bidder Kirsty Newton, who works for Kingston Communications as a telephone account manager.
Kirsty, 24, now plans to take her safari holiday in May. While in Africa, she will hand over a cheque for £975, the Kilimani children’s home’s share of the money raised during the fundraising evening.
The charity Riders for Health – which received a cheque for nearly £5,500, said it was overwhelmed by people’s generosity.
In a letter to organiser Sarah Kidd – who also works as a telephone account manager at Kingston Communications - Riders for Health chief executive Andrea Coleman said:
“Everyone at Riders for Health is delighted with the huge sum of money raised by Sarah Kidd and her colleagues at Kingston Communications. The fund raising evening was great fun.
“Your donation will train community nurses to ride and maintain motorcycles so that health care and supplies can reach rural communities in Africa reliably and sustainably.
“This saves the lives of hundreds of children and their families and improves the lives of many more. Thank you.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
About Riders for Health
*Riders for Health is an international charity that was started by motorcyclists. In 1988 the founders of RfH spotted a fatal flaw in international development in Africa when they noticed that vehicles (motorcycles and four-wheeled vehicles) sent in support of immunisation and primary health delivery were repeatedly breaking down then failing completely after a few months. The consequence was that services were just not being delivered at all.
After several years of developing appropriate vehicle management and rider/driver training techniques, RfH were able to work with local partners (ministries of health etc) to put in place a system that enabled vehicles to run for the whole of their natural mechanical lives without breaking down. Years later, the system, known as Transport Resource Management, goes from strength to strength. Today RfH’s work is a cornerstone of the global polio eradication campaign in Africa and underpins the outreach operations of ministries of health and non-government organisations alike in countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Gambia.
About the Kingston Group
Kingston Communications is an established UK communications company with a strategic focus on three key areas of activity. The Group's business-to-business solutions division encompasses a broad portfolio of voice, data, contact centre and hosting solutions. This national division is complemented by twenty-five metropolitan fibre networks and a long distance broadband network, which was initiated for service in May 2001. Kingston's new media activities include the DSL-based interactive television service, KIT, and satellite broadband content, storage and distribution arm, Kingston inmedia. The Group's East Yorkshire network operation has served business and residential customers since 1904.
For further information, please contact:
Rachel Ferguson
Media Relations Executive
Tracey Williams, PR Consultant
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