Local businesses asked to 'step up' support for charity walk challenge
Local businesses could hold the key to the success of a Coventry canon’s charity challenge to walk Coast to Coast in support of a project to build classrooms in Zambia.
Canon Gavin Kibble MBE turned 60 this month – and he is marking this milestone birthday year by talking on the challenge in a bid to raise £60k for Feed The Hungry as he completes the 200-mile trek across England, in May. And he is appealing for corporate sponsorship for each leg of his journey.
The route, between St Bees Head in Lancashire and Robin Hood Bay in Yorkshire, traverses three national parks and is expected to take 13 days.
It will be a particularly significant challenge for Gavin who, two years ago, suffered a heart attack while shopping in his local supermarket.
Since his recovery he has been following a new diet and fitness regime as part of a Coventry University Research Study Group, which, he says, has left him ‘feeling about ten years younger.’
Gavin, who founded Coventry Foodbank 13 years ago, became Projects Director of Feed The Hungry when the two charities merged in 2021.
Corporate sponsors have been promised plenty of exposure, including the addition of their company logo on a sponsorship plaque on the new building.
He said: “There’s something about turning sixty this month that is quite difficult to articulate. Last year my wife Vivienne and I decided that we would try and do 60 significant things around our 60th birthdays and the Coast to Coast walk has always been high on my ‘to-do’ list.”
“In 2019 I visited a school in Mazabuka in Zambia, which caters for children orphaned by the impact of the AIDS pandemic. Feed The Hungry provides regular meals for these children but that’s not enough. They need an education and to do that we need classrooms. The charity has been supporting the school since 2016, helping to pay for teaching staff, equipment and food.
“They also require a functioning IT suite to provide IT lessons for their children. It’s a lot of money to ask for from the local community, so the money raised from my walk will contribute in part to supporting them to pay for building new classrooms as well as desks, chairs and computer equipment.”
“So I’ve set myself a challenge that this year I will try and raise £60,000 to help change the lives of these children by walking across England. Please partner with me on this amazing adventure by sponsoring each mile or each leg of this walk.”
For more information or to get in touch about sponsoring a section of the walk, email gavin.kibble@feedthehungry.org.uk or call 01455 618 455. Or visit: https://feedthehungry.org.uk/coast-to-coast/
