On 10th of April 2010, beginning in 10:00 hours at the shopping mall "Biser" in Aerodrom Municipality NGO "Integrity AO" is organizing the fifth jubilee half-marathon race named "Running towards the Goal" under the cause "Stop Poverty!" This race will mark the symbolic struggle against poverty and is organized in cooperation and collaboration with the NGO's "Sumnal" from Skopje and "Poraka" from Negotino and also with tremendous support from the US Embassy in Skopje, Aerodrom Municipality and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Throughout sports and more specifically throughout the half-marathon race "Running towards the Goal" with this years tradition installment , NGO "Integrity AO" is promoting the idea of the fight against poverty as global world issue. The promotion of the idea locally means and shows that to solve great problem one should always start with one, first step which may be small but not insignificant. The three mini-projects that are being highlighted include Sumnal, Poraka-Negotino, and the Lazo Angelovski school. The Sumnal project will fund a mentor program for Roma children. The Poraka-Negotino project will fund a special needs physical education program. The Lazo Angelovski project will renovate the WC in this school and possibly an outdoor volleyball area for the community. Contestants may take part on three different races: 21km race , 7km race and 1km children race. The thing that separates this event out of the ordinary is the way for fundraising. With this race, we are seeking to activate the general population to personally make a difference in society through running for a cause (Run-a-Thon). The basic concept is for each runner to ask their friends to sponsor them for each kilometer that they run. For instance, if the runner is planning on running 7 km, they could ask a friend to support them for 100 den / km and raise 700 denars towards overcoming Poverty in Macedonia. If they had 10 friends supporting them, they would be able to collect up to 7,000 denars! This approach to overcoming problems in society helps everyone understand that many small gifts can make a major difference! Businesses and Embassy’s can also encourage their employees to Run for a Cause and sponsor their corporate team either per kilometer or per employee. This initial sponsorship from the company would challenge the employee the live a healthier life and motivate them to be more involved in the community (giving the company a positive image). For instance, if the Business sponsored their corporate team to run a full marathon (10 employees running 4km each) and sponsor them 100 denars per kilometer or 4,000 denars. Alternately, they could sponsor each employee 1000 denars and donate 4,000 denars (4 employees x 1000 denars). |