By Shannon Wei
BATU KAWA – The inaugural jogathon of St Mark’s Church (SMC) on Labour Day morning, which saw over 1,000 participants, raised about RM350,000 towards its four-phase new building development project.
It was the total amount received from jogathon participation cards which were distributed for sponsorship collection in early February this year.
A crowd comprising priests, religious sisters and parishioners young and old took part in this Fun Run dedicated towards “building a future parish community for the glory of God”.
Many gathered as early as 5.00 am for Holy Mass followed by warm-up exercises, a special zumba session, and the opening prayer by Archbishop Simon Poh.
In his brief appearance, the Archbishop also gave his blessing and support for the Church’s development in benefitting the spiritual formation of its growing community.
Sarawak Deputy Premier Dr Sim Kui Hian who is also Batu Kawa assemblyman, also expressed his support towards the project given its recent approval from the Sarawak Planning Authority.
Together, they flagged off the 5-km and 3-km routes.
Many participants returned to the Church for breakfast prepared by parish volunteers, followed by poco-poco dancing and karaoke entertainment by religious sisters and SMC youth.
At the closing of the programme, Rector Fr Felix Au expressed his gratitude to the runners and sponsors for their support towards the charity event.
See also: St Mark’s Church launches fundraising activities for New Building Development Fund, Fund raising appeal for St Mark’s “dream to become a parish” launched
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