July 2013

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

GVI volunteers and staff fundraising for the projects in Mexico in

the Mini-marathon Solidaridad
According to the Encyclopedic Dictionary1, a marathon can be defined as an
endurance competition for any activity. It predates to 1970 with the ING New York
City Marathon2 which fundraised for charities giving the opportunity to change lives
of kids and cancer patients.
This month GVI staff
and
volunteers
practiced this definition
and found the true
meaning of endurance
by participating in a
mini-marathon
Solidaridad to fundraise
for the GVI Charitable
Trust
projects
in
Mexico. A group of 16
volunteers and staff
from both Marine and
Community programs
as well as some parents
from the Health project,
Fig. 1 GVI Team after completing the mini-marathon
tackled the challenge of
either a 5km or 10km run. Some trained for this, some naturally fit, while others still
participated even without running shoes (showing some real dedication there)! All for
the goal of raising funds to continue the construction of the recycling center in Punta
Allen and to support childrens development in the two childcare projects in Playa del
Carmen with Save the Children and the Equine Therapy and Integral Care Centre.

Fig. 2 The running

1
2

The day started at 6am in Playa del Carmen (who

knows how much earlier for those travelling from
Pez Maya) to avoid running in the scorching sun.
However at 7am, it still managed to hit 31 degrees
Celsius! The highway that we ran on seemed like a
never ending stretch of concrete hills. This proved
to be quite the challenge for the GVI team, but our
determined and optimistic nature allowed us to
conquer the race while having a bit of fun in the
mean time.

Encyclopedic Dictionary Vox 1. 2009 Larousse Editorial, S.L

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/

As a collective sweaty heap, weve

managed to raise 75% of our goal of $1,500
usd from just 18 separate donations!
(http://www.justgiving.com/GVIMexico)
We couldnt be more proud of our GVI
team; for their participation and efforts.
Even after giving their time and energy to
their own projects, they can still manage to
wake up on a Sunday morning and
challenge themselves physically for a great
Fig. 3 Volunteers participating even
cause. A true showcase of what types of
without running shoes
people are involved with GVI; dedicated, giving and up for anything.
If you would like to know more about GVI Mexico Charitable Trust projects or make
a donation, check out:
http://gvi.org/what-we-do/the-projects/supporting-child-development-in-mexico
http://gvi.org/what-we-do/the-projects/establish-a-recycling-centre-in-mexico
http://gvi.org/what-we-do/the-projects/help-protect-marine-ecosystems-in-mexico