Budapest Airport’s 11th Annual Runway Run Raises Over 18 Million HUF for Charity
Budapest, Hungary, 2023-Oct-15 — /Travel PR News/ — Budapest Airport held its annual charity running race, the Runway Run, in September. The unbroken popularity of the event, now in its 11th year, is demonstrated by the fact that the amount raised from entry fees and the sale of official race T-shirts exceeded 18 million HUF, which the company divided equally between the Save Lives Foundation (Ments Életet Alapítvány), which helps the recovery of sick children and the SUHANJ! Foundation, which offers sporting opportunities for people living with disabilities.
1060 athletes attended the eleventh edition of the Runway Run, which took place on the closed runway I of the airport and, following last year’s great success, ran the selected distance in the lights of the sunset. In addition to the runners’ shirts included in the start pack, participants were also able to buy official T-shirts from the previous years, to support the chosen charities over and above the entry fee. These funds raised a total of 14,842,926 HUF and 9260 EUR, which Budapest Airport donated to the Save Lives Foundation and the SUHANJ! Foundation, with 7,421,463 HUF and 4630 EUR each, for a total of more than 18 million HUF. This brings the total amount of donations collected from the charity run to over 100 million HUF in 11 years.
The Save Lives Foundation makes the dreams of children with serious, life-threatening diseases come true, supporting their recovery. Proceeds from the Runway Run are used to fund three main programs: the Dream School supports the integration of children returning to daily life after treatment, through school and education programs, the Dream Commando supports the families of children recovering from serious diseases and the Dream Wizards team makes the secret wishes and dreams of children with life-threatening diseases come true.
The SUHANJ! Foundation, which Budapest Airport has been supporting for nine years now, will use the donation, amongst other things, for equipment – hand cycles, running strollers – to support sports for people with disabilities, and to develop the SUHANJ! Fitness, an integrated fitness center for disabled and able-bodied people.
“Like all large companies, Budapest Airport has a responsibility in socially important issues. As a major player in the Hungarian economy, we consider it important to support initiatives and organizations that help our fellow human beings who are disadvantaged in some way,” said Katalin Valentínyi, chief communication and government relations officer for Budapest Airport. She highlighted: “The Runway Run not only provides the joy of running together on an airport runway, it is also a charity event, as all runners complete the distance for a common goal. I am proud of the airport community for demonstrating the power of coming together for a good cause, for the eleventh year now.”
The Runway Run is a sporting event organized traditionally for the representatives of the aviation industry, which symbolizes the unity of the airport community. The athletes of the SUHANJ! Foundation are also regular participants, and for the first time this year, the representatives of the Save Lives Foundation joined the ranks as well. In addition, a social media appeal was launched, whereby anyone could win a slot to register for the event. Budapest Airport would like to take this opportunity to thank the nearly 150 civilian participants for supporting the work of the selected foundations with their entry fees.
Media Contact:
Tel.: +36 (1) 296-9696
kommunikacio@bud.hu
Source: Budapest Airport
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