And they're off: The Human Race comes to Geneva
Almost 100 UNHCR staffers and supporters sacrificed their lunch on Friday and pounded the streets of Geneva to raise money for refugee children in Chad.
GENEVA, August 29 (UNHCR) - Almost 100 UNHCR staff members and supporters sacrificed their lunch on Friday and pounded the streets of Geneva to raise money for the education of refugee children in Chad.
The UN refugee agency organized a 10-kilometre run and a 5-km walk along Lake Geneva and around the leafy UN quarter of the Swiss city as part of the Nike+ Human Race, a fund-raising event that will gather an estimated 1 million runners in 25 cities around the world on Sunday and raise at least US$500,000 for UNHCR.
With five minutes to go before the scheduled start, the Geneva event looked as though it was doomed to failure with just a handful of people present in their running shorts and UNHCR tee-shirts. But then a flood of amateur athletes of all sizes, ages and colours arrived in front of the UNHCR headquarters for the start.
UNHCR Director of External Relations Nick Van Praag, who will be in London on Sunday to take part in the Human Race, welcomed staff and runners from sister agencies and embassies.
"All the miles that you walk or you run will be registered and will count towards the resources that UNHCR will gain from this effort," Van Praag said. "We've already been guaranteed half-a-million dollars [by Human Race organizer and UNHCR corporate partner, Nike] for our work. The more you walk, the more you do, the more we'll get."
Shortly afterwards, the Geneva race began under a light breeze and clear skies. A keen core of about 20 runners set off at a cracking pace, keen to burn off some calories over their 10-km route, while the rest strolled downhill towards the lake at a leisurely pace. An hour later and they were back in front of UNHCR, a good deed for the day done.
"It was a way to connect Geneva with the main Human Race and the cities where it is being held," said participant Carla Thachuk, a fund-raiser for UNHCR. "Running 10 kilometres is nothing compared to the difficulties that the refugees in Chad face on a daily basis," she added.
Van Praag said the money that the agency receives from the Geneva event and the Human Race proper will be used to equip schools and pay the salaries of more than 500 teachers in camps housing almost 250,000 Sudanese refugees in east Chad. This programme is part of UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign to provide education and sports opportunities for all refugee children.
UNHCR, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Lance Armstrong Foundation will be the three beneficiaries of funds raised by the Human Race. Nike pledged to give each of the three beneficiaries US$500,000. Runners will specify which of the three organizations they wish to support and extra monies raised will be allocated based on this.
The UN refugee agency will have runners in all corners of the world helping to elevate the cause of refugee children on Sunday. From sole UNHCR staff members running in Dakar, Senegal and Tbilisi, Georgia, to the 3,000 refugees and host community members running in Nepal.
Related news and stories
Baseball club brings a bit of home to Venezuelan refugee and migrant kids in Peru
UNHCR, partners seek $876m for Rohingya refugees facing 'chilling fog of uncertainty' and for Bangladeshi hosts
As security worsens in DR Congo, UNHCR and partners seek US$605 million to assist Congolese refugees across Africa
UN and partners appeal for US$5.6 billion to help millions affected by Ukraine war
Football brings refugees and host community together in Angola
Lighting up the lives of forcibly displaced people in Mozambique
Your search for « Nike » matched 174 results. Displaying page 14 of 20 pages.
-
Update on Programmes, Bugdets and Funding for 2004
2 Sep 2004 ... ... Stichting Vluchteling 2,556,735 Dutch Postcode Lottery 1,243,781 NIKE EMEA 284,762 miscellaneous donors 981 TOTAL FOR Private Donors in Netherlands 4,086,259 Private Donors in Italy Miscellaneous ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2006 - Africa Overview
1 Jun 2007 ... ... Merck and Co., Inc. (USA) 40,000 0 40,000 Monaco 40,000 0 40,000 Netherlands 5,302,000 2,410,000 7,712,000 Nike EMEA (Netherlands) 122,849 0 122,849 Norway 15,462,746 7,910,548 23,373,294 Online ...... -
Programme Budgets and Funding in 2007 and Projections for 2008
28 Feb 2008 ... ... Miscellaneous Donors United States 359,387 Nike Beaverton 197,000 Merck and Co., Inc. 50,000 ... Private Donors in Italy Miscellaneous Donors Italy 5,210,109 Nike Italy 13,364 Total for Private ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2003 - Funding UNHCR's Programmes
1 Jun 2004 ... ... Merck & Co., Inc. (USA) Merck manuals (medical handbooks) for health centres: Africa 23,960 Nike EMEA (BEL) Clothing, transport: Kenya 594,215 Palmers Textil (AUS) Clothing: Colombia 47,348 ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2006 - UNHCR: An Overview
1 Jun 2007 ... ... of high-level representatives from Manpower, Microsoft, Merck, Nike and PricewaterhouseCoopers. ... This campaign, led by UNHCR with founding partners Nike and Microsoft, aims to raise awareness and ...... -
76th meeting of the Standing Committee CRP-24-Budget-English
19 Sep 2019 ... ... (NPL) 2,525,253 Miscellaneous donors in the Netherlands 1,067,938 Stichting Benevolentia 76,307 Nike European Operations Netherlands BV 38,479 Total private donors in the Netherlands 7,880,524 ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2008 - Funding UNHCR's Programmes
1 Jun 2009 ... ... donors in China 546,864 72,646 0 619,510 Nike EMEA (Netherlands) 591,540 0 0 591,540 ... Valley Community Foundation (USA) 1,000,000 Nike Inc. & affiliates (USA) 971,480 ...... -
UNHCR Global Report 2007 - Africa summary
1 Jun 2008 ... ... Liechtenstein 83,333 0 83,333 Luxembourg 7,510,873 317,623 7,828,496 Monaco 0 108,089 108,089 Netherlands 4,893,499 2,130,277 7,023,776 New Zealand 438,500 232,500 671,000 Nike Inc. (USA) 72,000 0 ...... -
76th meeting of the Standing Committee - Update on budgets and funding
28 Aug 2019 ... ... (NPL) 2,525,253 Miscellaneous donors in the Netherlands 1,067,938 Stichting Benevolentia 76,307 Nike European Operations Netherlands BV 38,479 Total private donors in the Netherlands 7,880,524 ......