FAMILY BANKS LENDS HELPING HAND TO AUTISTIC TROUBLED CHILDREN

Nairobi, Kenya, September 14th 2018 

Family Group Foundation Manager Jacqueline Mathaga, Family Bank COO Godfrey Kamau presents 10 million cheque to Athletics Kenya President Gen(Rtd) Jackson Tuwei and Acting CEO Susan Kamau for Family Group Eldoret Half Marathon

– Family Bank Eldoret Half-Marathon marks the 12thyear rebrands to Family Group Eldoret Half-Marathon, adopts a new and more competitive route and is geared to raise more money towards promoting inclusive education.

The 12thedition of the Half-Marathon, themed ‘Champions Run for Autism’, will be held on Sunday, October 7th2018 in Eldoret town. The new route unveiled will see the 21km men and women race commence at Tendwo High School, Talget and end at Zion Mall while the 5km corporate race will commence at Kao la Amani Church and also culminate at Zion Mall. The winners of the men’s and women’s 21km race will take home KES 250,000 each while the 1stand 2ndrunners-up will take home KES 150,000 and KES 90,000 respectively.

Last year, Joram Lumbasi successfully dug deep in the last 100 metres to edge out Isaac Kipkoech and successfully defend his 21km Men’s title while Pauline Korikwang led all the way to win the Women’s title. The competition is expected to be tighter this year given the level of interest from established athletes.

“As Family Bank, we are proud to provide a platform where talent has been discovered, nurtured and gone on to conquer the world. Walking with our sister companies into another decade of Marathon greatness, we look forward to doing more to impact the sports industry as well as touch communities around us,” said Family Bank’s Chief Operations Officer Mr. Godfrey Kamau during the launch event. “Through the individual and corporate participation, we hope to raise funds and build more specialized classrooms to promote inclusive education,” he added.

Just like in 2017, the proceeds from this year’s race will go towards supporting projects that give an opportunity to autistic children access quality education. According to statistics by the Ministry of Education, 16 per cent of children with disabilities drop out of school due to social discrimination. Additionally, there are only just 97schools nationally with dedicated units for autistic children.

“We saw the need to focus on inclusive education in Uasin Gishu County. Our first project at Sosiani Primary School benefitted from a specialized classroom from the proceeds of last year’s marathon. This unit is one of its kind in the Rift Valley Region. This year we hope to do even more and give autistic children a chance to access quality education,” said The Family Group Foundation Manager, Ms. Jacqueline Mathaga.

The Family Group Eldoret Half Marathon is sponsored by Family Bank Limited and its sister companies – Kenya Orient Insurance, Kenya Orient Life Assurance, Daykio Plantations and Alpha Africa Asset Managers to a tune of KES 10 million. Other sponsors of this year’s Marathon include AAR Insurance, Radar Security, BrainWave Communications Limited and Maisha Water.

“We are in full support of the Family Group Eldoret Half Marathon and the great cause behind it. As Athletics Kenya, we assure participants of a  great, attractive and competitive race,” said President of Athletics Kenya Gen(Rtd) Jackson TuweRegistration is currently open online at www.familygroupmarathon.comand through all Family Bank branches countrywide. Registration fee is KES1,000 for corporate teams and KES 500 for individual runners.