Run to Save Lives

The Rotary Club of Cebu (RCC) has organized its second Run for Gift of Life this year, in partnership with Citrineland Corporation. The RCC is a civic club whose sole purpose is to serve humanity. This fun run is a fundraiser that will benefit children with congenital heart defects (CHD). It also aims to raise awareness of how children with CHD experience difficulty doing simple things.

Over 20,000 children in the Philippines are born with CHD. Two out of eight of these children are born with critical heart disease and will need surgery during their first year of life. It is the fifth leading cause of infant deaths in the country. Around 5,000 patients need to undergo heart surgery every year, but the country’s leading hospitals can only offer less than 400 charity operations.


The Gift of Life program, organized by the RCC, has helped over 50 children get heart surgeries since it started ten years ago. In 2017, eight patients were successfully operated on. This year, RCC has partnered with the Gift of Life International and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Through a foreign medical mission, a Vocational Training Team (VTT) will perform pediatric cardiac surgeries at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. This will help local doctors learn how to do simple to complex pediatric heart surgeries.


The Citrineland Run for Gift of Life 2 will be on May 13, at the Robinson’s Galleria Cebu. There are four race categories: 1K for Php350, 3K for Php350, 8K for Php450, and 16K for Php650. Register online at www.rotarycebu.org or by walk-in at Digital Walker in Ayala Center Cebu, and Digital Walker in SM City Cebu.

You may also register at Robinson’s Galleria Concierge starting April 24. Non-runners can donate at www.rotarycebu.org or on-site during the event.


To know more about the run, you may visit www.citrineland.com/run-for-gift-life-year-2/.



(Janna Yuvallos)