On May 12, 2008, a major earthquake destroys the Sichuan region of China. Photo courtesy of Half the Sky Foundation.
Meet Ricky Lai and the Global Runners - On November 30th, they’ll be running the Shanghai Half Marathon to raise money and awareness for the Half the Sky Foundation (HTS) and the May 2008 Sichuan-region earthquake relief efforts. So far the group has raised $18,382.
They’re fundraising and running because
The ‘Global Runners’ was started by a couple HBSC colleagues who wanted to run for fun, fitness and a good cause. Eventually, more colleagues joined in, even though it wasn’t an official HSBC event. Now the Global Runners has grown to 3 teams that’ll travel to and run the Shanghai Half Marathon - Team Hong Kong, Team Shanghai, Team Taipei.
Originally, they planned to challange each other to see which team was the fastest. But now, they’re so focused on their fundraising that they forgot to set a team speed challenge. Instead they’ve challenged each other to raise $100,000.
They decided to fundraise for Half the Sky Foundation because
A Shaghai team member had heard of HTS’ good work, so Ricky and the team did some research online, called HTS, and then Ricky met them in their Hong Kong office to understand their work with the Sichuan-region earthquake relief efforts. The team decided to fundraise for this organization as the destruction in Sichuan is huge and the road to recovery will be long and challenging, particularly when the media is no longer reporting the story.
The Global Runners’ goals are
Their goals are to fundraise $100,000 - this will cover the cost of a “Big Top” day care centre and its 1-year operating costs, and to meet their varying personal running goals - some runners are aiming for a 1:15 half marathon while others just want to finish.
Firstgiving has helped the Global Runner’s raise money
Firstgiving made it convenient for the Global Runners to communicate and collect funds from all over the world. So far the group has received money from donors in UK, Ireland, Mexico, India, Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, and other locations and has reached supporters world-wide by emailing their fundraising page link to as many people they know.