THE Blue and You Autism Awareness virtual run / walk will be held online on Saturday, 1 August between 8am and 3pm.
The welcome and start of the event will be live on the NPO’s Facebook page – Blue and You Autism Awareness virtual run / walk – at 8am and prize giving will be live at 4.30pm.
Winners will be announced and arrangements made to get prizes to them.
The event, which is usually hosted in April during Autism Awareness Month, is in its fourth year.
“This year we had to cancel due to Covid-19 which meant we received no income for the therapy sponsorship we do. We decided to host a virtual event instead which meant we could invite the whole country and even the whole world as the run /walk will take place in each participant’s neighbourhood. So far we have six countries participating including South Africa, UK, USA, Germany, Sweden and the Seychelles,” said Caz Collins, chairperson of the Blue and You Autism Awareness NPO.
The event started in 2015 with Caz and seven of her staff from Breakthrough Interventions when they joined a local 5km women’s race and had T-shirts made promoting Autism awareness.
The following year 50 people joined them at a local fun run event to promote Autism awareness and the following year in 2017 Caz formed a committee with two other parents of children with Autism and they hosted their own event, The Blue and You Autism awareness run, which was later registered as a non-profit organisation.
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“We had 300 people that first year and the event has grown each year. In 2019 we had 1056 participants and were preparing for 1500 in 2020 when our event was cancelled. We hope more people will join us in our virtual event,” said Caz.
Autism is a developmental condition affecting children in areas such as social /communication, behaviour, and sensory.
Autism affects one in 54 children and sadly in South Africa, services and appropriate schooling for those affected with the condition are in short supply.
“With our event our goal each year is to raise awareness about the condition as well as funds to sponsor therapy for children with Autism from low income families,” said Caz.
Cost is R30 per person. There will be prizes for best dressed in blue, best homemade banner, first place for the men’s 8km and 5km event, and first place for the women’s 8km and 5km event.
The organisation is also accepting donations for those who are unable to take part.
To enter or donate, visit: https://bit.ly/3eNCHE1
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