Hyde Park Loomba Foundation Charity Run

Support International Widows Day and Help Widows around the world

The Loomba Foundation, an UN accredited global NGO, of whose Advisory Board I am co-Chairman, is raising funds for disadvantaged widows and their children by organising a 5K charity run in Hyde Park on 23rd June, to mark the third UN recognised International Widows Day.

We are expecting 1000 runners to run around the Serpentine Lake in this world famous Royal Park in the centre of London from 10am to 12pm.

Many people don’t know that there are 245 million widows and their 500 million children around the world, suffering in silence. 115 million widows struggle to survive and 1.5 million widows’ children worldwide do not live to see their fifth birthday.

In a number of cultures, widowed women often experience targeted murder, rape, prostitution, forced marriage, property theft, eviction, social isolation and physical and psychological abuse.

Often poor, uneducated and unable to find a job, many widows depend on their children as breadwinners, who often end up working on the streets or in factories which are common places for child abuse.

Sadly, this issue has remained unidentified and unaddressed in many countries and until recently even in the United Nations. The Loomba Foundation launched International Widows Day in 2005, which takes place on the 23rd of June every year as a global day of action to highlight the plight of widows, and we are proud that the United Nations adopted 23rd June as International Widows Day in 2010.

We would be delighted if you could join us at our charity run and help us to raise money for disadvantaged widows worldwide. If you are unable to run, you can always join the 5K VIP walk which will be led by our President Cherie Blair CBE. Full details of how to register can be found on our website: www.theloombafoundation.org

It promises to be a great event, and all of the funds raised will be used to help end discrimination against widows around the world.