Colleagues take on marathon challenge for charity

Ten courageous colleagues from Churchill have committed to taking part in this year’s London Marathon in aid of a charity helping families through the cost of living crisis – even though several of them have never run before.

Oasis Community Learning (OCL), one of the largest multi-academy trusts in England, is fundraising for its Living Rooms project, which will offer a warm and welcoming space in every Oasis building where families can relax and enjoy a free meal.

OCL has 52 academies across the country and, since April last year, we have been providing a range of services to 21 of its sites nationally. Our education sector director Ruben Correia said: ‘As part of our ongoing relationship with Oasis Community Learning, I was approached to run the London Marathon for its umbrella charity Oasis. I jumped at the chance, despite never having run before!

‘The academies have grown from the Oasis charity founded in 1985 in Tonbridge, Kent, by the Rev Steve Chalke MBE and are part of an Oasis ‘hub’ that provides wide-ranging and integrated services, designed to meet the needs of local people.

‘Its ethos of always putting people first and giving back to the communities in which it is based closely align with that of Churchill and when more marathon places were then offered I contacted my colleagues, who were also quick to sign up for such a good cause.’

As well as Ruben, the other nine Churchill employees taking part in the London Marathon on April 23 are:

• Proposal/bid content manager Shelley Lucas
• Junior proposal/ bid manager Kirsty Dixon
• Account manager Jake King
• Operations director Cheryl-Anne Sanderson
• Operations director Graeme Jones
• Commercial manager Lee Morgan
• Northern Trains business support partner Beth Morley
• Amulet’s head of HR Tracey Cheung
• Contract administration team leader Carrie-Anne Kettle

They each have an ambitious £2,000 initial fundraising target to hit. If anyone would like to contribute towards their total, the links to their individual donation pages are:

• Ruben Correia
• Shelley Lucas
• Kirsty Dixon
• Jake King
• Cheryl-Anne Sanderson
• Graeme Jones
• Lee Morgan
• Beth Morley
• Tracey Cheung
• Carrie-Anne Kettle

This is not the first time Churchill has helped out OCL, as we were the main sponsor of its annual fundraising night in October, when Olympic distance running champion Sir Mo Farah was at OCL’s Waterloo site for a live Q&A session with Sky Sports News presenter Simon Thomas.

And we have worked with year 11 students on a ‘Get Into FM’ project, which showcased the opportunities available within the facilities management industry.

We are also looking at how we can help OCL reduce its utility bills, which are predicted to reach £10m this year.

Find out more about OCL and Oasis.