Edwards & Co has supported the work of OoA in Kenya since 2005 when we began fundraising to build a skills college. Tragically Julie Martin, the founder of the Charity, died early in 2013 and the Charity is now raising funds to extend the college in her memory….
In keeping with our general ethos of putting people first, we decided in 2005 to commit ourselves to a particular charity project. Having searched for something worthwhile, with a direct involvement and a guarantee that our money would go straight to the cause, we found a small charity known as Out of Afrika which was looking for a funder to build a training college in the Thika province in Kenya. The cost of the building was in the region of £48,000. In Northern Irish terms this is a ridiculously small sum of money to build a school. The equivalent cost here for an average primary school would be £2m. Nonetheless, the £48,000 required some fund-raising and some major team effort.
Fund-raising has ranged from weekly efforts such as home baking and raffles to fun runs, cinema nights and drinks parties for clients and colleagues. Indeed we now run an annual reception for our clients and colleagues and their generosity never fails to inspire us all. Our staff is committed to Payroll Giving, a government tax free scheme for charity donations taken directly from salary. At the time of writing we have raised over £50,000! Now that the college is up and running we continue to support salaries, maintenance costs and other financial needs arising from this thriving school.
If you would like to make a donation to this excellent cause, please send cheques to our office address, made payable to Out Of Afrika. You can also find out more details about the charity at its own website – www.outofafrika.org.
