Chris Cooper - The Kenya Project

Meet Chris Cooper, owner of Runners Heal; a new company raising funds to feed Kenyan children in the poorest areas daily breakfast to boost school attendance, reduce malnourishment and build towards a better future for the community. This is done through the selling of clothing from the Runners Heal website (https://www.runnersheal.org) with 'We Run This' written across the front to spread the love and positivity to there runners and encourage you to donate. There are multiple choices so far, including hoodies, T shirts, race vests and bags for both sexes.

Taken from runnersheal.org

Ditto

As a father, successful marathoner and entrepreneur, there's hardly a question of why I chose this influential runner as my inspiration of the month. In an interview with Holmes Place Chris told of his initial thought process and what triggered him into action. After reading the autobiography of Mo Farah he became inspired by what Farah referred to as 'The Kenyan Way'. He had officially caught the running bug and was in the process of training very hard for future marathons when he was influenced through working with an online coach in Kenya
, who led to further connections over there. This was when he was educated on the magnitude of the crisis in Kenya at the moment, with over 700,000 children facing starvation every day in Kenya alone, he decided to try and do something about it.

Being the birthplace of multiple current World Champions he could not have chosen a better place to start than in Kenya. He has taken what can sometimes become a selfish sport (chasing PBs and dedicated daily solo training etc.) and spread all the positive this sport has to offer, which trust me is a lot, and using this to make some progress where it's needed most.

This is the process:
1) We buy an item of clothing online from https://www.runnersheal.org
2) This money goes to purchasing maize, beans, salt and oil (ingredients for the traditional Kenyan dish 'Gatheri') from local producers, further contributing to the economy
3) Chris and his team deliver this to schools in the poorest areas and help make/distribute the food each morning, ensuring every child gets a portion

Already, attendance and performance in these schools has increased, with parents eager for their children to be fed each morning and children enjoying the new found energy levels which this much needed nourishment can give them.

So please, please, take just 10 minutes to go and order your running gear from Chris and his team to spread the word about this up-and-coming project. My race vest will be worn with pride, what about yours?
 Love Helen

P.S. follow the journey https://www.instagram.com/coopsrun/