More than 2000 people, including Rompetrol employees and their families, participated in the eighth edition of the Rompetrol Run and Care event that took place on Saturday, September 18. The running was individual, respecting the conditions of the pandemic, in mountain or sea areas, in the park or on alleys, and the participants ran distances of minimum 2km, monitored with any sports application and subsequently published on Facebook using the hashtags #rompetrolhospice and #rompetrolmagic.
13,650 kilometers ran or walked are converted into liters of fuel, which will be donated by Rompetrol to support the specialized palliative care provided by Hospice at patients’ homes, and a similar quantity of fuel to Magic Association to support the project Soul Driver – free transportation for patients from their homes to hospitals.
"Run and Care is part of our tradition of running for a charitable cause and supporting essential areas of Romanian society, through partnerships with NGOs. We considered the pandemic conditions and encouraged individual running of people with a civic sense and eager to be physically active and raise liters of fuel for good deeds. It went out as an unique charity event with a high number of runners, a manifestation of responsibility, of togetherness and of great results. Also a sign of recognition for each runner we will plant trees, in Prahova county, in early November” – Iskander Abdibaitov, Chief Officer of Corporate Governance.
The event was 17-hour length, between 5 am to 10 pm, participants could have ran whenever they wanted, and the company offered 13,650 liters of fuel to each organization for their 13,650 km effort. The cumulated quantity of 27,300 liters of fuel can be used in 2021 and 2022 to support the missions of the two organizations. The runners are Rompetrol employees and family members, as well as supporters, volunteers, sportsmen and fundraisers, direct or indirect beneficiaries of the 2 NGOs supported, from Romania and other countries, with distances of 2 km (ran by former children cured from cancer enrolled in the projects of Magic Association), to the record of 104 km as an individual run.
“Many cancer patients are eligible for palliative care at home. And they want this services precisely because they are close to their loved ones at home and feel comfortable. Unfortunately, the demand is higher than the supply. In Bucharest, for example, there are only two complete palliative care teams to provide services at home, teams of doctors, nurses and therapists, both part of Hospice Casa Speranţei Foundation. We provide these services free of charge. We are grateful to Rompetrol because they support us. Sometimes, the good is done in running steps, and at Run and Care, the good is directly proportional with the kilometers ran by all participants” - Mihaela Nemtanu, executive director Hospice Casa Speranţei.
Over 35,000 children and adults with incurable diseases have benefited from palliative care in the past 29 years since Hospice Casa Speranţei was established in Romania. It is the largest Foundation that offers free specialized services, both at day centers, outpatient clinics and impatient units, at patients’ homes and in partner hospitals.
“The partnership with Rompetrol is one we care about a lot, not only because it supports us enormously in our Soul Driver project, through which we provide free transport to / from hospitals for seriously ill children, but also because it is a solid relationship in which we feel their involvement at all levels. Rompetrol Run and Care is another proof of this - it encourages the movement in a very simple way, it gives us the opportunity to see the community of volunteers and supporters and brings together the missions of two NGOs: Magic Association and Hospice Casa Speranţei. It is very important that we join forces in all possible ways to bring about change for the better in our world. We are proud and happy to be a part of this event and thank the Rompetrol team for all the support they constantly offer to those in need” – Corina Banu, Magic Association.
The Magic Association provides material and emotional support for children with cancer and other serious illnesses. Founded in 2014, together with the special MagiCAMP - camps specially designed for children with cancer, the Magic Association currently deals with over 5,000 children with serious illnesses, through 12 projects, the best known being MagiCAMP, MagicHOME and the latest project, Soul Driver (launched in the pandemic year of 2020).
Rompetrol Run and Care had its first edition in 2013, being designed as a running and corporate volunteering project, managing to raise over 60,000 euros by involving employees, their families and business partners alike. In 2020 because of the pandemic, the event was organized as an individual race, having as results over 600 runners and 6600 liter of fuel donated. The money and fuel have supported in the past 8 years the missions of associations and foundations such as MAME, Edulier, Magic, Hope and Homes for Children, Agent Green, “Asociaţia pentru Dravet şi alte epilepsii rare” (Association for Dravet and other rare epilepsies).