LAI Run for the Heart by Catherine Wu

Run for the Heart

cathywu1999 — 2015-04-11 13:14:11 UTC

This is a program devised and organized by L.A.I. (Liberal Arts Institute) to encourage students to exercise for 21 days in order to raise money for donations. According to Karl Lashley, an American psychologist, an action repeated for 21 days would turn into a habit. In 21 days, the students are to exercise and set goals for themselves. If they reach their goals, their parents or other family members would give them a fixed amount of money that will accumulate to a great sum by the end of the 21 days. Afterwards, there will be a marathon held in a park so that the students could exercise and test their strengths, as well as interact with one another and have a FANTASTIC time!

RFTH 2014

cathywu1999 — 2015-04-11 13:29:28 UTC

This year, the students ran a marathon at the Daan Forest Park after their 21 days of exercise. The total funds we raised this time were much higher than last year's! The money was given to CCFT (Cardiac Children's Foundation Taiwan) and TGDA (Taiwan Guide Dog Association).

Total: $121,701

$100,000 to CCFT and the rest to TGDA.

LINKS...

CCFT: http://www.ccft.org.tw/about/english.asp

TGDA: http://www.guidedog.org.tw/

RFTH 2015 (TGDA & SPCA)

cathywu1999 — 2015-04-23 11:38:56 UTC

The purpose for this year's Run for the Heart is to raise money for Taiwan's Guide Dog Association, as well as donating to SPCA. There are currently around 40 guide dogs in service and about 70 in training, while Taiwan has 60,000 visually impaired people. The ideal ratio of the amount of guide dogs and the blind people is 1: 100, which means Taiwan still needs 560 more guide dogs! We hope that by doing this fund raising program, we can help the organizations in providing better training for the guide dogs, and create a more wonderful world for the visually impaired people and the animals that seek for care and love. :)

Koby is a guide dog of TGDA. He is very quiet and obedient as he learns how to fit in our world in order to assist visually impaired people. He is almost 10 months old, and he will be send off for training between age 1.5 and 2. The picture below is Koby and the so-called puppy walker, who is the family that takes care of the dog to prepare it for future training.

RFTH 2013

cathywu1999 — 2015-05-24 02:48:54 UTC

This was the first activity and the first donation. The students were asked to exercise for 21 days, but there was no marathon. The total funds we raised were donated to SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to help the abused animals, especially Heiniu (pig) and Mei Mei (dog) who were in need of vet fees; and the Red Cross Society to support those victims of the Ya'an earthquake in Sichuan, China.

Total donation amount: $40,141

$26,741 to the Red Cross Society

$13,400 to SPCA

LINKS...

SPCA web link: http://www.spca.org.tw/

Story about Heiniu: http://www.spca.org.tw/investigators-diary-4065722942-the-pig.html

Red Cross Society of Taiwan web link: http://www.redcross.org.tw/english/

2015 Marathon & Donations

cathywu1999 — 2015-05-24 04:24:56 UTC

This year's RFTH was another great success! We've raised even more funds than last year's!

The marathon was held in Daan Park, and it was a big success too! Thanks to the parents who were willing to guide the children's way, standing under the sun and holding the arrows that pointed the directions; and those who provided refreshments for us! Also thanks to Koby and his family, for coming to support our program!

Total amount: $140,150

$80,000 to TGDA

$60,150 to SPCA