NAIROBI, Kenya, March 3 – Donations towards First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s Half Marathon set to take place on March 7 hit the Sh189 million mark when more sponsors topped the kitty with an additional Sh 50 million.
With only two days to go before the First Lady flags off the 3rd edition of the marathon, the number of runners who had listed hit the 35,000 mark 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.
Merck Limited, a Pharmaceutical Company from Germany gave Sh25 million which was topped up by both AMREF and Chase Bank Foundation who jointly gave another Sh20 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.
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