Last year the firm that James works for adopted a charity called Build Africa that does a lot of work in Uganda and Kenya. The Paris Marathon was identified as a way in which to raise funds and 10 slots were offered to Ernst and Young employees from around the world. To win one of those slots employees had to submit creative ideas to raise funds.
Port Elizabeth based James Flanagan’s creative ideas resulted in him being selected as one of the lucky employees selected to run the Paris Marathon.
The 10 most creative ideas each won one of the 10 slots. This group of 10 winners were then tasked to collectively raise 9000 Euro’s for a borehole at a school in Uganda so James ‘share’ of the ‘burden’ is 900 Euros.
Asof today James has collected 390 Euros and time is running out. If you want to skip the hard sell and help James and the kids out then CLICK HERE to donate.
James’ start seeding and qualifying for the Paris Marathon is based on how much money he raises before 5:00 pm on 6 April 2013. He leaves for Paris on 2 April and returns on 9 April – bring a calvados and a croissant home for me please James!
“Over the last few weeks I have been growing a beard, collecting old clothes and shoes for resale and I’ve introduced a Jeans and T-shirt Friday in the office for staff, to make sure I raise as much as possible! Family, friends and colleagues have been sponsoring me for the growth of the beard and have contributed to my collection of old clothes and shoes for resale. Recently I have introduced a Jeans and T-shirt Friday initiative were by staff make a minimal donation for being allowed to wear Jeans and a T-shirt while in the office on a Friday.”, says James.
Having done 4 Ironman 70.3 and last year completing Ironman South Africa, James sees this as being an even bigger challenge. “Besides the running, raising funds for such a worthy cause is going to be difficult and I’m really hoping that my friends, family and colleagues will support me in getting to achieve my goal of raising funds so that we can sink a borehole at the school and provide the kids with a basic need, running water. Most of us these days taking running water for granted and we often forget about those less fortunate than us. Accepting this challenge and running the marathon is the least that I can do, helping me help the kids in whatever small or big way is the least that the people of EY can do to.”
Build Africa does a lot of really good work helping disadvantaged African communities build a future for themselves. They build schools, classrooms, train teachers, provide desks and books and they do this in areas where kids have only limited access to education, helping them to learn and gain the education they deserve and we might take for granted.
Fellow South Africans will agree with James when he says; “When I checked this morning I had 389 Euro’s raised so far, so I’m a far way off and that’s why I need more exposure. As the only South African in the group I think its important that I make a good showing, many others in the group are nearing their 900 Euro’s target, but as a typical competitive South African I want to beat them all!”
That Link to donate is: CLICK HERE.
James Flanagan is aiming to raise 900 Euro’s for Ugandan kids by 5 April – the beard is part of his commitment.
