Syston Resident in 2020 London Marathon to Support Locally Based Charity

Raj and his family have been living and supporting the community in Syston for over six years. He will be running the London Marathon in April to raise much needed funds and awareness for The U Foundation, a locally based charity.

Why running?

In 2018, I was going through a challenging time in my life and needed to find a way to re-focus and rebalance. A friend of mine inspired me to join him for the Oxford half marathon which got me into running. Since then I have ran marathons in Paris (April 19), Berlin (Sept 19) and Worksop half marathon (Oct 19).

What runs have you planned this year?

I’m running the London Marathon (April) through The U Foundation. I also have a place in the Chicago marathon (October) and I’ll be running at least four half-marathons including The Great North Run (Sept).

Tell us about the Charity – The U Foundation

The U Foundation was started in 2006 by a local couple during a visit to Zambia. They decided out of kindness, to sponsor a local man who did not have the means to train to become a professional teacher. Today, the foundation’s main focus is to provide education to remote parts of the country, where many children live in mud huts with no running water or electricity, and suffer malnutrition. The U Foundation has built a nursery school in Siankaba where it provides a safe and secure environment to educate children. The nursery is expected to grow to take on over 100 children by January 2020. Additionally, the foundation is committed to expand and build a new primary school for children up to Year 7. It is a truly heart-warming story and to see that a few individuals can make such significant positive impact so many lives and the local community – it is really something special.

What are you doing to support The U Foundation?

The U Foundation is small charity and is little known. To raise awareness as well as much needed funds to support the expansion of the school, we are organising a charity gig on the 13th of March 2020 at the Syston Rugby Club (Quenibourough). There will be an Indian buffet provided by Saffron Ivy, live music from a Nottingham band and raffle. The event is supported by local businesses including: Syston Day Nursery, Syston Sizzler, Reef Hair and many more. I really look forward to this community event that will raise much needed funds to support the great work of The U Foundation.

How can we buy tickets to the event?

Tickets are now on sale from select vendors around Syston including Reef Hair, Syston Day Nursery, Syston Sizzler and Saffron Ivy. You can also contact me or Sarah on the numbers below to reserve your tickets (No ticket will be sold at the door)­­­­­.