The seven partners of Mello Jones & Martin proved last weekend that business and charity can go hand in hand.

The partners and their spouses returned from Boston last week after taking part in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk, a sponsored walk for which they have so far raised about $60,000 in the fight against cancer. The group totalled 14 in all ? the partners and their spouses ? but their small number did not hinder them from raising more money per walker than any of the other 6,000 participants.

Partner Alan Dunch, who walked three miles, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that organisers made several public announcements hailing the Bermudian group's feat. The achievement was twofold ? raising an incredible sum of money and pulling together in a striking example of team work.

The group were fortunate, Mr. Dunch said, to be able to tie their annual partnership retreat in with the September 18 walk, making the weekend a trip that was both beneficial for the firm and for the fight against cancer.

Partner Andrew Martin, who walked 13 miles, told The Royal Gazette that at home the MJM partners made a conscious effort to be involved in community affairs. The firm has a prolific record of involvement to attest to that, ranging from work with Agape House to Sunshine League.

The walk was their largest undertaking to date, however. It was also the first oversees team effort made by the partners.

Despite this departure from precedent, MJM had no hesitation in becoming involved with the Jimmy Fund.

Momentum for this particular project mounted when the firm was touched very personally by the experience of one partner, Juliana Snelling, as she watched her infant son, Jude, struggle with a cancer-like disease called Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) ? a struggle he is now winning at the age of two.

Thanks to treatment he received at the Dana-Farber and Children's Hospital in Boston, Ms Snelling told The Royal Gazette, Jude is back on the Island and his LCH is in remission.

Mr. Martin said that cancer research "is not something you can support locally with much ease", which meant that, in order to contribute to the type of work that was so vital to the survival of children like Jude, the firm had to look beyond Bermuda's shores.

He said: "The walk was an easy way for us to make a contribution since the event was tremendously well organised." That meant that the partners could put all their energy into accumulating donations from almost 200 local and overseas sources. The firm even called on their clients, who donated generously from as far afield as Switzerland and South Africa.

The walkers themselves were as diverse as their sponsors. Patients from the Children's Hospital were followed by 2,000 walkers along a shorter three mile route, which included the local police commissioners and the Harvard Basketball team.

Mr. Dunch said he was "struck" by how many people were wearing the yellow shirts assigned to walkers who raised over $750 each. He remembered walking beside the grandfather of an eight-year-old cancer sufferer, Caleb. This young boy had welcomed the walkers with an inspirational speech, and then led the huge group on their three mile journey.

MJM wants the public to know that it is not too late to give a donation, which will be accepted through the end of the year. Online credit card donations can be made on the team webpage www.jimmyfundwalkregistration.org or by sending a cheque payable to Mello Jones & Martin (memo: Jimmy Fund Walk), addressed to Mello Jones &Martin, Reid House, 31 Church Street, Hamilton HM 12, c/o J. Snelling.