Every day one in 30 babies is born in the UK with a condition which may affect them for life, yet each year less than £10 per child is spent on health research. Sparks raises money to fund pioneering children’s medical research to get this to change.
Madeleine Buckley, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Sparks said: “This year was the first time KCOM Group has taken part in a dragon boat race to raise money for Sparks – they’re always coming up with new and fun ways to raise money for us.
“A team of 19 employees rowed a longboat 250 metres across the lake at Pugney’s Country Park, against another 36 teams in a bid to get the best time. The KCOM Group team managed to get a fantastic time of 59 seconds meaning they came tenth in the race.
“They’ve now been able to add another £1,000 to the fundraising pot, which is a fantastic achievement. There are more fundraising activities to come later in the summer that we know will raise a substantial amount of money for Sparks.”
The event is organised jointly by The Rotary Club of Wakefield Chantry (club no 1496) and Huddersfield Rotary Club (club no 209), who have organised the race for five years.
Team Captain Lee Morrison, Provisioning Specialist at KCOM Group, said: “The 36 teams were each sponsoring a different charity, raising £10,000 so far for worthy causes. This brings the total raised by this event over the last five years to over £100,000, which goes to local and national charities.
“The whole team has really enjoyed taking part in this event and we’re so pleased that we’ve been able to raise money for such a fantastic cause. There’s already talk of taking part again next year.”
KCOM Group has supported Sparks since 2012 raising £190,000 during that time to beat its original fundraising target by £90,000.