CAN! 24hr Relay Marathon – “Every Step Counts”

The “Every Step Counts” 24 hour charity marathon has become the first project to be awarded the Singapore 2010 – Young ChangeMakers Grant.

“Every Step Counts” – which took five months to put together – raised money for and also awareness of Operation Smile Singapore, a charity organisation that provides free treatment and operations for people, mostly children, suffering from facial deformities mainly, cleft palates and cleft lips. Money was also raised through a games carnival.

A group of 6 JC2 students from TJC’s pinnacle leadership development programme, The Mazarin Programme,  together with their teacher-mentor, wanted to “Make a Difference” with their service learning project. The group M.A.D (Make a Difference) wanted to incorporate the five elements of Sports, Aesthetics, Community, ‘Youth for Youth’ initiative, and Charity into their project. This led to “Every Step Counts”, which started out small, but more and more ideas gave birth to a large scale event that would not only celebrate the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, but also include all schools, National Sports Associations, and the public (especially the Bedok community), all in the name to raise funds for Operation Smile Singapore.

In addition to raising funds and awareness for Operation Smile Singapore, this awesome group also set a new Singapore Book of Records by rallying all the best runners from the various sports PDPs (Personal Development Programmes) in TJC to run 599 laps in 12 hours in the “Most number of laps in a 400 m relay in 12 hours” category.

599 laps in a 400m relay in 12 hours!

Guest of Honour, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the exhibition run

Other Links

http://www.singapore2010.sg/newsroom

http://www.youth.sg/content/view/7015/71/