Gul Panag to launch 12-city marathon

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) Actress and social activist Gul Panag is set to launch a 12-city marathon, A Joy Run, organised by her NGO Social Outreach Accreditation Program (SOAP), in association with I Love My Mother Earth Foundation (ILMME).

The official announcement for the event will be made in Mumbai Saturday, while the event itself will take place Feb 19, 2012.

A Joy Run is a not-for-profit run, and aims at giving NGOs across the country an opportunity to promote their causes and also engage corporate support through a 10-km run. The funds raised will be used to promote the cause of education and better health among the underprivileged children, said a press statement.

The 12 cities where the run is to be conducted are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Amritsar.

"The first-of-its-kind, this effort will add more cities across India with every passing year. By 2016, 'A Joy Run' will take place simultaneously in various countries," said Sanjay Srinivas, the principal organiser of 'A Joy Run 2012'.

Gul, a sporty girl herself, is upbeat about the initiative.

"In the last few years that I have been involved in charitable work, I have come to realise that we need to create opportunities for aware citizens and corporates to contribute to social responsibilities. The Joy Run is one such initiative," she said.

Every city will run to highlight and spread awareness about one medical condition like cervical cancer, obesity, hypertension, et al.

A Joy Run has a tie-up with Pratham, an NGO that focusses on education. Proceeds from the run will be donated to this NGO, run by Nandan Nilekani.

The initiative will also contribute to the Grand Banyan Project, a project by ILMME. The project is aimed at collecting used notebooks from the affluent children, recycled, new notebooks made and distributed to the underprivileged school children.

Gul Panag Pictures