Credit: SOSVE

Luxembourg-based running crew FatBetty.Run has donated over €1,000 to local NGO SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde.

The FatBetty.Run team raised €1,023 for the Luxembourgish charity through the sale of medals and headscarves as part of its virtual All Black Medal race. The money will be used for a programme for children living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northern Iraq in face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before setting off for their traditional 10K race, the FatBetty.Run team gathered at the Independent Café in Luxembourg City to present a cheque to SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde.

The running crew's founding members, Dan Thuy, Guido Kröger, Stéphane di Carlo and Yves Mentz, explained during the cheque presentation: "We focussed on the social and non-competitive aspect that the race can offer. It's not about a challenge or a record. It's about having a little fun while we run together and discover the most surprising and exciting places in the City of Luxembourg. Supporting a social project through our collective seemed all the more natural to us since we were already in contact with SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde for a common event on the occasion of the ING Night Marathon Luxembourg, [which was] unfortunately cancelled due to the crisis. Selling medals and headscarves for the benefit of projects undertaken by SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde in favour of vulnerable children has proven to be a good idea".

Sophie Glesener, Director of SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, added: "We are very grateful for this wonderful outpouring of generosity. It means a lot, especially in these difficult times, to continue to share with the most vulnerable children, especially those living in emergencies and who are now affected by the pandemic and its devastating effects".

The donation will help support a program for children living in IDP camps near the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Since the coronavirus first appeared in Iraq last February, the SOS team, which supports 1,400 children traumatized by years of war, has faced strict restrictions. For several months, the camps were closed even to NGOs. As soon as they reopened in June, measures were put in place to meet the needs of children. This emergency aid focuses on the distribution of food, water, hygiene kits and baby kits. In addition, it offers psychosocial support, distance health prevention and child protection monitoring.