For the very first time, Coimbatore is all geared to witness a 'Kiddathon', a marathon by kids and parents to create awareness against child abuse. Organised by city-based NGO 'Ver Organization', this thoughtful, fun-filled, one-of-a-kind marathon will be flagged off from Race Course at 6:30 am on 26th February.
T. Jerome Vasanth, Founder of 'Ver Organization' a software engineer by profession initiated this youth organization to bring together youth to transform India to a 'greener & safer' place to live in. With 1000 plus volunteers, 'Ver Organization' has been tirelessly working towards creating a change, socially and environmentally through their campaigns pertaining to tree plantation, child education, blood donation, senior citizen care among others. This NGO has an notable presence in Facebook, as their page "I Like Coimbatore” has close to a two lakh plus subscribers.
Vasanth, Founder of 'Ver Organization' shares with SimpliCity some interesting insights about 'Kiddathon', 'It's heart-rending to learn about the increasing child abuse incidents in our nation. The situation is so alarming, that no day passes by without a child abuse incident. Even a baby is not spared!
Such tormenting incidents have definitely instilled a sense of insecurity and fear amongst the kids and the parents. Eliminating such incidents is practically not possible as those culprits are unidentifiable, until they commit the crime. The need of the hour is to create awareness among children and parents on how to counter such incidents.
The idea of Kiddathon was proposed to me by a set of female volunteers from our organisation, who always stressed to create an impact in the society on child abuse. Without a second thought, we decided to host the first of it's kind Marathon in the city focusing on child abuse.
Kiddathon will be a fun-filled awareness campaign split into three categories, 'Mom & Me' for 0.5 km, 'Budding Champ' for 1.5 km and 'Super Champ' for 3 km. Musical concert and Zumba dance by experts will also be hosted as a part of the event. The first five finishers from each category will be awarded attractive prizes and all participants will be given participation certificates. So far, we have received an over-whelming response as 2500 entries have been registered.
All participants are asked to reach the venue by 6.30 am and enjoy the fun filled marathon for voicing strong against child abuse', Vasanth said.