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Enterprising eight-year-old takes fund-running in her stride

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Naomi Townsend, the South Croydon primary school pupil who two years ago got a “herogram” from Sir Richard Branson for her fund-raising efforts, is now out running to try to raise more than £2,000 towards the Jamaican hurricane relief fund.

It was in 2022 that bright-as-a-button Croydon schoolgirl dismissed regular fund-raising efforts, like sponsored swims or walks, as “Boring!”, and embarked on a mission that she called “Project 22”, using her own pocket money to buy ingredients to make food for rough sleepers and homeless people, and raised 100 times more than her original target.

Now aged eight, Naomi wants to run eight kilometres – a little less than five miles -to raise £2,222 to assist those affected by Hurricane Beryl in Jamaica.

All proceeds from the event will be handed over to the Rotary Club of Mandeville. The money will be used to support South Manchester and St Elizabeth residents, two areas of the island most severely hit by the deadly storm, where some communities are still without
electricity or running water more than a month after the hurricane hit.

Hurricane Beryl barrelled through the Caribbean over the course of several days at the end of June and early July, claiming the lives of at least nine people.

Naomi and her family had been visiting her grandmother in Jamaica at Easter this year.

“After seeing recent news reports of the destruction that Hurricane Beryl had caused, Naomi felt compelled to lend a small hand of support to the people from the island she loves so much,” her father, photographer Lee Townsend, told Inside Croydon.

The Townsends are actively involved in the Jamaican diaspora, supporting projects of the Jamaican High Commission. Naomi is a member of the Jamaican High Commission Youth Choir, which performed at the Jamaican Independence thanksgiving service in London last Saturday.

And as a regular participant in a range of sports, including junior ParkRuns, the 8km run in Ashburton Park over the course of a day should be a stroll in the park for the enterprising eight-year-old.

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