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Trustees from the Strawberry Hill Overseas and Community Concern (SHOCC) charity at St Mary’s University, Twickenham have raised funds to help buy lunches for children in Kenya.
Elizabeth Byrne-Hill and Dr Kevin Cook recently joined the Shepperton and Sunbury Rotary Club on a 10k Walk to raise funds for the Marigat Infant School. Lunch at the school costs 20 pence per child per day but students cannot afford the meal.
Having previously supported the school to build two classrooms, a kitchen block and toilets, Dr Cook proposed that SHOCC should aim to raise enough money for 5000 lunches and has now raised £1,250 from the sponsored walk.
In addition, staff and students at St Mary’s, as well as local parishioners, were invited to fill a jam jar with 20 pence pieces during Lent. The money raised through that initiative combined with the funds raised through the sponsored walk and the Lenten Sunday Masses has surpassed £2500; enough to feed 80 children for over 30 weeks.
Dr Cook said, “Walking 10k with a new hip seemed a challenge but it is nothing compared to the challenges facing the children at the Marigat School. I will share a lunch with the pupils when I visit the school in July and would like to thank everyone who so generously contributed.”
The next challenge facing SHOCC is to raise £7,500 by the end of this year to pay for the construction of the third classroom at the Kenyan school. This is needed for the January 2015 intake of 40 pupils. If you would like to support this project, you can do so by donating directly to the Just Giving site.
![SHOCC charity walk certificates](http://www.stmarys.ac.uk/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/SHOCC-charity-walk-certificates-234x300.jpg)