By Jami Ledesma
In 2014 Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) very first CSR-inspired charity race was born via an employee-initiated 5K fun run.
Limited to RWM executives and staff, the event raised funds in excess of P1 million for its beneficiaries.
The following year, the same fun run was held with the distance being increased to 6K in celebration of RWM’s sixth Anniversary. Still limited to RWM employees, P1 million was raised for that year’s chosen beneficiary.
By 2016 the fun run was named Run With Me, a 7K-celebrity charity race in celebration of RWM’s seventh year. This time RWM invited its partners and special celebrity guests to participate. A total of P1.3 million was raised for four different beneficiaries.
Finally, in 2017 Run With Me was opened to the public with 21K, 10K and 5K categories. With approximately 5,000 participants, P3 million was raised for various beneficiaries chosen by participating celebrity leaders.
Celebrity runners who have been supporting Run With Me are Rovilson Fernandez, Meg Imperial, DJ Tony Toni and Jason Zamora, to name a few. Among the new supporters this year are Ria Atayde, Jeffrey Hidalgo, Adrian Alandy and DJ Sam YG, to name a few.
To date, Run With Me has been recognized four times by various award-giving bodies where it has bagged two Stevie Awards, a Silver Anvil Award and an Award of Merit Division 1 at the 15th Philippine Quill Awards.
This year Run With Me 2018 will take place on August 26 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. Online registration is open until August 22 at www.runwithme.ph or at select Olympic Village branches in Metro Manila. Race kits will be available for pick up from August 23 to 25 at The Plaza in Newport Mall, RWM.
Beneficiaries of this year’s run include Yes Pinoy Foundation, HERO Foundation, EPCALM Adult Leukemia Foundation of the Philippines, Right Start Community Development Inc., Empowering Brilliant Minds Foundation and ERDA Tech Foundation.