The Red Run, the largest HIV community fundraising event in the UK, provides a platform for organisations across the country to raise awareness and vital funds for their work. This year, the Red Run is going international thanks to major partner Emerald Life.
Returning for its 8th year, the World AIDS Day Red Run will take place on Sunday 26th November in Victoria Park, London, with money raised from participants distributed across 28 organisations, all committed to making life better for people living with HIV and HIV prevention.
Emerald Life first became a partner to the Red Run in 2016 when it entered the biggest team for that year. To emphasise that HIV is a global issue, Emerald Life has gathered international involvement from participants across 6 continents, running at exactly the same time as the race in Victoria Park.
Alongside Red-Runners in London, simultaneously there will be runners raising money for the 28 HIV-charities in Sydney, Mexico City, New York, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro and Hong Kong – all running as part of the Emerald Team, with a combined goal of raising £10,000 towards the £100,000 target.
Emerald Team will see participants in 6 continents
To get this year’s fundraising underway, a launch party is being held at the Eagle, in Vauxhall, on the 15th September which promises a night of music, food, drinks and entertainment. Come along and join in the Red Run fun.
More information on the Red Run, including how to sign-up for the event, is available at www.RedRun.org.uk.
Commenting on the Red Run going global, Emerald Chairman Steve Wardlaw said: “It such a great event, we wanted to make it even bigger. After last year’s Red Run, many of Emerald’s global supporters asked us if there was a way for them to get behind what we were doing in future events – which really was the birth of the idea to have people in trainers running the distance in cities around the world. We want to smash our £10k target and help Red Run smash its target of £100k.”
Positive East chief executive Mark Santos added “It is great to have Emerald Life on board again as a main sponsor. We love what they do, fighting discrimination in the insurance sector and battling for the LGBT community, women and non-traditional families. They have run workshops and round tables with us – they really want to help and understand.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1.0 Emerald Life is an insurance provider focused on addressing the needs of under-represented groups across the financial services sector. As well as being the first full-service insurance provider for the LGBT community, it was awarded Ethical Financial Services Provider of the Year in 2016, supports a number of grassroots organisations, including those committed to addressing inequality, and recently has advised trade bodies including the ABI on BME issues within insurance.
2.0 The 2017 World AIDS Day Red Run will be held in east London’s Victoria Park on 26th November 2017. www.redrun.org.uk
3.0 The Red Run is sponsored by Emerald Life, Diva Magazine, Interbank, Matrix Causes Fund and Starbucks and hosted by Positive East. This year’s event will build on last year’s record breaking turnout with nearly £60,000 raised, and will support 28 HIV charities across the UK
4.0 Participating Charities include Positive East, 56 Dean Street,AIDS Orphan, Brigstowe, Cara Trust, The Crescent, Food Chain, GMFA, Herts Aid, I-Base, KWA Africa, Living Well CIC, Make A Difference Trust, Metro Charity, Mildmay, NAM, National AIDS Trust, Positively UK, Prepster, Rain Trust, Sahir House, Spectra, StopAIDS, Sussex Beacon, Terrence Higgins Trust, Wandsworth Oasis and Youth StopAIDS.
5.0 HIV in the UK – There are approximately 103,000 living with HIV in the UK, nearly 50,000 in London and more than 35 million globally[i].
Medical advances have ensured that those living with HIV are able to live healthy and normal lives, however poor mental health and social and economic challenges continue to affect people living with HIV at disproportional rates meaning that HIV based support services are essential and needed[ii].
Last year 6,000 new HIV diagnoses were made in the UK and of the 103,000 living with HIV, 13% remain undiagnosed[iii] leading to onward HIV transmission.
6.0 Positive East has been on the forefront of HIV service and care for over 25 years; supporting people from the point of HIV diagnoses to longer term care. Guided by our mission – to improve the quality of life of individuals and communities affected by HIV – we have developed a holistic range of health and wellbeing programmes from counselling, peer support and information and advice to HIV testing and HIV prevention outreach. Annually, we provide direct support to 4,000 people through our programmes and HIV testing.
For further information or to arrange an interview:
James Wharton
07590312522
[i] HIV in the UK Situation Report 2015
[ii] Why we need HIV support Services 2017
[iii] HIV in the UK Situation Report 2015
Some images of Team Emerald from last year’s run:
A collection of further images are available upon request.