Office team raise thousands for charity on the Red Run for World Aids Day
Donating £2000 to Bethnal Green’s Positive East charity, Chemonics said taking part in the Red Run has started important conversations about HIV in their workplace.
Chemonics’ UK donated £4000 to organisations tackling HIV stigma on January 16th, after their office took part in the Red Run for World Aids Day in Victoria Park.
Chemonics announced they had matched the money raised. Of the money raised, £2000 was donated to Positive East, an HIV testing centre in Bethnal Green and £2000 was donated to Metro Charity, who offer an HIV counselling service.
On Saturday 25th November Chemonics’ team of 12 ran a mix of the 5k and 10k courses in the Victoria Park Red Run. The Red Run raises awareness around HIV, ahead of World Aids Day on December 1st.
Miguel A. Castañeda joined the run and works for both the UK Aid partner, and has been volunteering for Metro Charity for over seven years. He said that their participation in the Red Run raised awareness amongst colleagues about the need to continue working on HIV support and prevention locally and globally.
Chemonics work with UK Aid projects to help deliver development schemes across the globe, they are currently working on strengthening water sanitation across Ethiopia and accelerating plastic reduction in Vietnam.
‘Even though people like us work in development,’ said Castañeda, ‘there can still be a lot of lack of knowledge around stigma about HIV and its impact in society. Fundraising for this Red Run has highlighted the issue in our office.
‘This is the second year in a row that our company develops initiatives for HIV support charities in the UK and we hope this continues being a key part of our EDI initiatives going forward.’
This year the Red Run, which celebrates people who support the HIV movement, raised a total of £232,661 for World Aids Day.
Positive East’s volunteer manager, Mark Santos said: ‘We are so touched and delighted by the generosity of the Chemonics Team for raising much-needed funds for Positive East.
‘HIV still presents a real challenge to our communities and support such as this is increasingly important to fund our vital services in these more difficult financial times.’
Chemonics posted to Twitter on January 16, saying: ‘Did you know that Chemonics UK staff members participated in the 2023 World AIDS Day Red Run?’
‘Our staff members successfully achieved 100% of their target and raised £2000 for @PositiveEast and @METROCharity, which was then matched by Chemonics UK!’
‘Well done to the runners!’
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