Nearly R5m raised for Comrades’ charities
Five charities received funds raised by Comrades Marathon runners and the community.
THE Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) handed over almost R5m in funds to their official charities. The association reported that the funds for the official Comrades Marathon charities increased by nearly a million rand for #Comrades2023 compared to last year with a total of R4 945 096 raised.
Raised by runners, supporters, sponsors and the public at large, the funds were handed over to the five official Amabeadibeadi charities in Hillcrest. The charities were: the Durban and Pietermaritzburg Community Chests, Childhood Cancer Foundation (CHOC), Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT), Rise against Hunger (RAH) and WildTrust.
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The nearly R5m raised was through a combination of charitable donations with the runners’ entries, merchandise sales at the Comrades Expo, the Race4Charity platform, the Toyota Win-A-Car competition and funds raised by Comrades ambassadors, staff and race-organising committee volunteers.
CMA Charities and CSI convenor, Pat Freeman, thanked everyone who contributed to this year’s Comrades Amabeadibeadi charity drive.
“We are impressed with the fundraising efforts of our runners and supporters in this year’s Comrades Marathon and are proud to hand over the funds to our deserving charities,” he said.
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Runners who chose to Race4Charity raised R3.9m with Dean Wight raising just over R470 000 of those funds for the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust and once again maintaining his status as the Top Charity Fundraiser.
Justin Hand, who ran for the Community Chest, raised just over R280 000 while Jenny Lincoln raised the third highest amount of R66 000 for CHOC.
CMA chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo said, “We are grateful to our charities for their daily work in making our country a better place. In the spirit of the Comrades Marathon, we should all give back in one way or another. I am constantly inspired by the commitment and passion that drives our Amabeadibeadi charities to deliver on their mandate and to go the extra mile. We convey our heartfelt thank you to our runners, supporters and partners who came on board to build on our fundraising efforts.”
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