During a press conference Caritas Malta conveyed information about the second edition of Caritas Run For Life, which entered the Caritas calendar as an annual physical activity.
The second edition of Caritas Run For life, will take place on May 12th 2024 – a run or walk from the San Blas Therapeutic Center in ZebbuÄĄ and back.
10 Km race – 5 Km race – 4Km walk and 1Km race for children between 6 and 9 years and 2.5km race for children between 10 and 13 years.
Caritas Malta believes that in our society everyone – children, adolescents, young people, adults and the elderly – needs opportunities where one can experience the beauty of living and living a healthy life away from substances and all that which hinders man from living with his full dignity.
The Director of Caritas Malta, Mr. Anthony Gatt thanked the many who are supporting the second edition of Caritas Run For Life, as it is an activity that includes a lot of logistics and preparations.
He started by mentioning two particular experiences that hit him immensely after last year’s activity; a person who came up to him and told him that she had never done any physical activity and it was precisely Caritas Run For Life that gave her a push and started moving and since then she continued to get involved in physical activities, and another person, a rehabilitation client in one of the houses of Caritas Malta who expressed that she never imagined that a wonderful activity like Caritas Run For Life would give you that healthy pleasure without needing substances.
“The feeling of repeating it has two objectives – last year’s great competition because it encourages a healthy life and also the element of fundraising. Caritas Malta is in favor of a healthy life and for about 35 years has been dealing with the reality of substances that dominate people in addiction. Even today we face the reality of cannabis and cocaine as substances that are entering more and more into our society; laxity that puts young people at risk and people who find in drugs alienation and escape from life. Currently 58 residents are doing a residential therapeutic program in one of Caritas Malta’s homes. Last year over 750 people came for help together with over 550 people related to someone with problematic drug use. Apart from direct aid, prevention is an important task and Caritas Run for Life is part of the prevention strategy. For us this means promotion for a healthy life away from drugs. When one takes care of one’s health even the health services system goes well”. This is what the director of Caritas explained, while he also spoke about the importance of fundraising to support the services offered by Caritas Malta, which are all free of charge. He ended by thanking Sportmalta who give continuous support throughout the year to Caritas Malta’s residential homes, St Patrick’s Athletic Club collaborators in logistics, The Convenience Shop as the main sponsor for the support that Caritas has always found when it loved the door, Enemed, GO & Fun isotonic sport drink, Eurosport, Garmin, Mediterrenean College of Sport who support the training of residents, GS Health and Safety, Toto PerÅžuta Carnival Company, Malta Public Transport, Malta Police Force, LESA, to the Council of Zebbug, St John Ambulance and Rescue, and Pen 2 paper.
SportMalta representative, Ms Rose Marie Mercieca, spoke about the importance of a person moving. The lack of physical activity brings about non-communicable diseases which can be avoided if one keeps oneself active.
“That is SportMalta’s mission. SportMalta works hand in hand with Caritas Malta, in fact in addition to the contribution in Caritas Run For Life, SportMalta gives continuous support throughout the year to residents in rehabilitation homes. When you work with these clients you realize the beauty that through sport we can give dignity back to the person. This activity was very successful, in fact last year’s number of participants exploded and I have no doubt that it will happen again in this second edition of Caritas run for life,” she concluded.
Mr Ray Spiteri President of St Patrick’s Athletic Club said that the club feels honored that they will once again give assistance to Caritas Malta. “We learned a lot after the first experience of Caritas Run For Life and we will continue to improve this second edition. We have created more categories in the different ages between 30 and 70 years old who can win a trophy for first, second and third place. We responded to those who attended the walk and felt that 2.5km was a short walk and we increased it to 4km, and we will also add more security to our roads. The 10km and 5km will remain the same. We have also added a trophy in recognition of that club or school that will have the most people registered on its behalf participating.” Mr. Spiteri explained this while encouraging clubs and OCR’s to encourage their athletes to attend even with the chance of this trophy.
Mr. Andrew Attard the Executive Assistant to the Director of The Convenience Shop explained that from the very beginning The Convenience Shop believed in this activity and the many beauties it brings. “It is an activity that feels like it has been happening for many years and it is not that it is its 2nd edition. The Convenience Shop strongly believes in being behind Caritas as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility. This is the human aspect of being close to people who are so in need – drugs are so addictive more than ever, so we have to invest more in people through physical activities. As a company we encourage more companies to do as we did and together with their workers register to attend Caritas Run For Life and be proactive in something so great and beautiful together.” Mr. Attard concluded while also encouraging employers to, like The Convenience Shop do, be ready to reintegrate people back into the world of work in a job as soon as they complete a program because work gives dignity and restores ‘ be welcomed in society.
One can apply through the link www.caritasmalta.org/event/
