Anderson Junior College students organise “Touch Run” for charity

Interview by Leslie Tan/Red Sports.

The team members from “INCREDIBLES!!!”. (from left to right) Ee Loon Yew, Leong Yi Lin, Carissa Ng, Yeo Quan Yin.

A group of students from Anderson Junior College have embarked on a project to raise funds for underprivileged children under the TOUCH Community. The group, named “INCREDIBLES!!!” is collaborating with Citibank-YMCA Youth For Causes, and were selected to put together this large-scale project. They were given seed funding of $1,600 from Citibank-YMCA. Red Sports interviewed Carissa Ng, one of the group members.

Red Sports: What is the purpose of the run?
Carissa: Our primary aim is to raise public funds to further the work of TOUCH Young Arrows (TYA), a service of TOUCH Community Services, that reaches out to the children from single-parent or low-income families in our society. A secondary aim is to build awareness for the work of this service through a public fun run called "Touch Run".

We want to support TYA for their cause to realise the potential of children from single-parent or low-income families through social, emotional and moral support. We also want to increase awareness of the problems these children are facing and inform the public of TYA's role in helping these children. We also want to give everyone a fun Sunday morning outdoor with family and friends in addition to a good workout.

What prompted you and your schoolmates to organise this run?
Me and my main committee members are athletes. Our love for sports directed us to organise a running event. In addition, a running event is a large-scale project which is usually organised by professional running organisations. We will be the youngest team to organise a running event and this will allow others of our age to be confident that they are capable of such large projects too. It is a risk that we are taking, but it comes with a golden opportunity and an enriching experience.

Why a half-marathon?
As Singapore is moving to become a Sports Hub, especially with the hosting of the upcoming Youth Olympics Games 2010, we are using this area to create more awareness in sports. Since there are numerous interested athletes who are searching for a good reason to run, this Touch Run will serve as a good purpose for them to participate in, hence helping the TYA.

What is the most challenging aspect of organising this run?
The inexperience. We are the pioneers and the youngest organisers of a public running event. We have to source for sponsors, professionals and running organisations to guide us through the planning and execution of the event. Fortunately, SGRunners, a non-profit organisation has kindly agreed to assist us in every possible ways they can. Due to the budget constraints, Touch Run will just be a simple charity run.

How many runners are you hoping to target?
We hope to have 650 runners as we are trying to raise a minimum of $10,000 for TOUCH Community Services. We will certainly be glad to have more runners as this will increase the money raised.

What is the route?
The route will take the runners through East Coast Park. It is still being finalised, but it is definitely something worth looking out for.

When is the run?
Date: 3rd August, Sunday
Time: 8.00am
Venue: East Coast Park Castle Beach

Watch out for more updates on Red Sports about the ‘Touch Run’. So have your calendars marked. Why not do your part for charity? Come down for this event! 🙂