Community

from The Jewish Weekly Issue 241 - 30 June

Opinion

14 COMMUNITY

TO ADVERTISE CALL 020 3906 8488 Maccabi fun run raises vital funds

Jewish charities have thanked participants of the Maccabi GB community fun run on Sunday.

The initiative is the largest event in the Jewish community and a huge part of the UK Jewish fundraising calendar going back to 2007. The event has raised over £1.5million for Jewish charities since its first step 15 years ago.

The main event saw 1K, 5K and 10K distance races with a plethora of charities represented. Competitors of all ages and racing skill took part.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis addressed Team GB who are taking part in the forthcoming Maccabiah Games in Israel.

“Thank you for connecting to your Judaism and Israel through sport,”.

Amongst the many charities were Norwood with 26 participants at the fun run.

People the charity support include Melanie, Gillian and Baruch who ran the 1km, other supporters ran a combination of events including CEO Dr Beverley Jacobson who ran the 10km.

Norwood also had people they support volunteering on a charity stand.

Camp Simcha had 90 runners to help support families with seriously ill children, including a few who are directly helped by the charity themselves. A third of Camp Simcha’s runners had been recruited by Crohn’s and Colitis charity JDigest to support a collaborative project between the two, to help children and teens with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Over 70 runners, many with personal experience of Chai Cancer Care’s support, took part and raised £10,000 (and counting!) making it a huge success again.

Energetic Chai participants aged six to 80 dusted off running shoes to take part in the varying distances.

Fun Run veterans, father and son duo Phil and Daniel Singer took part in the 5k run.

They said, “We chose Chai in memory of our mum and grandma who passed away from cancer in 1998. We wanted to raise money to help Chai support those using their services now.”

First time Chai runners Jonathan and Caroline Holman took in the 10k event.

Jonathan said, “It was our pleasure to support Chai. My closest friend died of pancreatic cancer a month ago and his family are receiving incredible bereavement support from your organisation. A close friend is having treatment for cancer and finding therapy sessions at Chai a fantastic boost to wellbeing.”

Kisharon had 28 people across 12 families participating.

It is an event many people, including Debbie and Eli, at Kisharon support. The trio helped raise funds through fundraising pages.

Emma Nagli, fundraising manager, said, “It was wonderful to see Kisharon support workers walking and running alongside the Kisharon family. Seeing everyone happy and thriving was memorable.”

Camp Simcha’s mascot Simi with fun runners