Pride of Britain finalists: Raising spirits and money for Kenyan communities

By Ruth Zorko - ITV News London Reporter

For the last few months, we've been hunting for London's most inspiring fundraiser, someone who's raised money for a great cause. Many viewers contacted us with their nominations, and now we have our three finalists.

The winner will go on to represent the capital at this year's Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards.

Holly Bantleman

Holly Bantleman from Chertsey in Surrey was nominated for her work, raising funds for poverty-stricken communities in Kenya.

Like many young people, she went to Africa on her gap year to work as a volunteer. While there, she met people who were living in the middle of a rubbish dump, surrounded with trash and with only flimsy cardboard and tarpaulin homes to keep them safe.

They needed £500 to pay for new corrugated iron roofs to protect them from the rain.

To a 21-year-old Holly, that sounded like a reasonable goal, so she set up a charity called Raise the Roof Kenya and set about raising funds.

But Holly was more successful than she'd expected. Not only did she raise the £500, she had £500 left over, so she started working on other projects to reduce poverty in the area.

Since then, Holly has been setting up businesses for single mothers, paying for HIV treatment and prevention programmes, and paying school fees for local children who couldn't otherwise afford to go.

She's also set up a new vocational training centre, offering tuition in textiles and agriculture, transforming the lives of those she's worked with.

Holly, now 28, does all this in her spare time from the shed in her back garden, squeezing it into evenings and weekends, while earning a living as a professional camerawoman.