Around 2,500 participants ran through the streets of Madrid to help raise funds for the repair and rehabilitation of schools damaged by typhoon Yolanda..(CONTRIBUTED)
Around 2,500 runners joined the marathon organized by a Madrid-based nongovernment organization last month to raise funds for the repair and rehabilitation of classrooms in areas devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda in northern Cebu.
Fundación Solventia (Solventia Foundation) in Madrid, Spain has pledged to donate the proceeds worth 21,000 euros (around P1,281,000) to Aboitiz Foundation Inc.
The amount will fund the repair of five classrooms of the Anonang Sur Elementary School in Bogo City that were damaged by supertyphoon Yolanda. The project is expected to start in the last week of March.
Pupils of the said school attend classes in damaged classrooms with recycled tarpaulins serving as roofs.
“We would love to be with the Aboitiz Foundation. It is an honor for us to be a part, as little as this might be, of such an incredible effort of solidarity as the Aboitiz does for the Philippines day by day,” said Solventia Foundation Director Javier Iturralde Lind.
“All the best from us in Madrid. We have a place for your country in our hearts in such times of difficulty,” he added.
Dubbed as “Run for the Philippines,” the event featured 5K and 10K runs and was jointly organized with the Municipal Board of Fuencarral-El Pardo.
Among the participants were long distance Olympics runner Chema Martinez, cyclist Carlos Abella and runner Enrique Alvarez.