Co-operative Travel in collaboration with the charity Just a Drop has raised a sum of ?8,754 and built a water tank at Kiliku School in Kenya.
The travel company has a network of 58 stores located across England?s mid counties, from Nottinghamshire down to Somerset. It has completed many charity initiatives to date to raise money for the Just a Drop foundation with fundraising initiatives such as silent auctions, cycle-athons, cake sales and coffee mornings in its branches.
The school is located in an arid, rural area where there is limited water and the children are often forced to fetch water from a borehole. The building of the new water tank is now complete and will provide year-round, clean water for the 330 children who attend the school and their teachers and support staff.The money raised has also funded the building of three hand washing stations for the school as well as sanitation and hygiene education for the students on how best to use the water and stay healthy.
Natalie Turner, head of branches for the company, said: ?We are delighted to hear from our colleagues at Just a Drop that the project is complete and to see the pictures of the school children making use of the water tank we have helped to build.
?As a co-operative, making a difference to the local communities, both at home and in the countries that we send our holidaymakers to, is really important, and being able to see what a positive impact our fundraising efforts have has on a school community in Kenya makes us extremely proud.
?The school?s new water tank means that the children will have sufficient water to drink and cook with. The children will be able to spend more time in school as they will not be losing time due to illness or through having to fetch water. The school will be able to use the money they were previously spending on buying water, when their own supply ran out, for new classrooms, a laboratory, or for growing food, and hygiene issues will be reduced leading to better long term health for the children.?
For more information, visit www.cooptravel.co.uk.
