The Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown is far from being just another community service driven Club full of anxious young adults screaming out Barack Obama’s well-saturated slogan “Change” at the top of their voices.
Consisting of engineers, actuaries, bankers, accountants, economists and budding lawyers the club boasts an extremely diverse member base of all ages and sizes. It is certainly no secret that the Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown, revived in 2010, has made a huge impact on the Rotaract Movement winning 13 awards at the District Assembly in recognition of its projects conducted during the Rotaract Year 2011/2012.
Now the Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown is back with its 3rd annual installment of the award winning Run For Their Lives 2012. In addition to raising over 1.4 million rupees towards the purchase of essential medicine for the National Cancer Institute in Maharagama, Run For Their Lives was awarded “Most Outstanding Rotaract Project” and “Best Public Relations Effort” in the Rotary District 3220 for the years 2010/2011. It is no surprise that the effort and dedication that went into organizing such a charity run for the past two years has directly affected the lives of both cancer patients and all participants that graced this event.
Run For Their Lives is essentially a 5 kilometer charity run beginning from Independence Square that aims to raise both funds and awareness towards the treatment and cure of cancer. Over 375 participants took part in its first installment in 2010 and over 600 took part in 2011. RFTL isn’t just any charity run; it’s an extremely fun, colorful and interactive run. The charity event has seen participants dress up in various costumes to take part, it’s seen people as old as 74 enthusiastic about completing the entire length and tons of participants engaged in the games and refreshments stalls at the fair fun held afterwards. It’s an environment of vibrant people actively involved in their need to make a difference in a cancer patient’s life.
Over the past two years of Run For Their Lives, the event has been endorsed by extremely popular Sri Lankan cricketers, Mahela Jaywardane, Angelo Mathews and Muttiah Muralitharan. In addition to their endorsement, local celebrities Nehara Peiris, Sunil Perera, Daya Tennakoon, Rookantha Gunathilaka and Koluu have had a say in it as well. Furthermore, Run For Their Lives 2011, was graced by the presence of the Ambassador of Netherlands, Mrs. Leoni Cuelenaere, the Deputy British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Mr. Mark Gooding and the Deputy Ambassador of Norway Mr. John Boradhault.
It is very important to note that we have had the help and guidance of an astonishing 74 year old man who goes by the name “Uncle Perry”. A Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Colombo Uptown, Uncle Perry has completed the 5 km run twice and continues to help Run for Their Lives thrive by personally raising funds from his family, friends and associates to donate to this charitable cause. Speaking about Run For Their Lives, Uncle Perry in his most proudest voice said “Run For Their Lives is a very worthy cause and he strongly feels everyone regardless of their age should take part.” He believes if he as a 74 year old man can make a contribution, anyone of any age can join him.
The Senior Consultant Oncologist of the National Cancer Institute in Maharagama Dr. Jayantha Balawardane has stated time and time again that ”shortages [of medicine] are inevitable as the cost burden keeps escalating each year due to the high cost of new curative drugs and treatment schedules.” The Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown has made it, its number one priority to put in all it can into Run For Their Lives in order to raise as much as it can to purchase the costly curative medicine to help colour the lives and moments of cancer patients.
If you want to be a part of Run For Their Lives, head over to the Independence Square on the 9th of December 2012 at 7:30 AM. Make sure you register as soon as possible and for 500 rupees you will receive an official Run For Their Lives T-Shirt known for its popular designs and worn even well after the conclusion of the event. You will also receive refreshments after the run and can have the time of your life at the fun fair held afterwards. If, however, you would wish to make a donation towards this cause, you may direct your contributions to Nations Trust Bank, Account no: 025100003703, Account name: “Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown”. If you would like to support this cause in some other way or have any inquiries, please contact us at [email protected]. You can register and keep up with our developments at www.rftl.lk and http://www.facebook.com/runfortheirlives respectively.
