Children & Future, helping children around the world for nearly 25 years
Celebrities such as basketball player Yakuba Ouattara and athlete Mickaël Zézé taking part in the No Finish Line in support of Children & Future - © André Faure
The charity organises the famous No Finish Line event.
Sport as a means of helping sick and underprivileged children. This is the idea behind the No Finish Line race that takes place in Monaco every November.
Advertising
The project was initiated in 1999 by Monaco’s Junior Chamber of Commerce and Philippe Verdier – who wanted to promote World Children’s Day, celebrated on 20 November – and has been organised solely by the Children & Future charity since 2001.
“We originally set up the charity to manage the race and its development,” says Ariane Favaloro, its president.
Projects all over the world
Almost 25 years later, famous sportsmen and women and ordinary walkers are still answering the call, enabling Children & Future to fund many local and international projects to help children who are sick or in need.
“Initially, we started working with the Cardio-Thoracic Centre to enable underprivileged children to come to Monaco for surgery. We then carried out a lot of projects with the Monegasque Red Cross and the Monaco Government’s Department of International Cooperation, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. The goal was to train surgeons over there, so that they could operate on the children locally,” says Ariane Favaloro.
And the scope of Children & Future’s work has expanded over the years. Building schools in Nepal and sports grounds in Morocco, rebuilding kindergartens in Tende after storm Alex, financing equine-assisted therapy equipment for disabled children in Cagnes-sur-Mer… All these projects have a common thread: supporting children in need.
“The idea is to be able to fund projects all over the world thanks to No Finish Line. We are actually the largest donor to Monaco Collectif Humanitaire,” says the President.
In excess of three million euros already raised
There is also a form on the charity’s website for project leaders seeking funding. Applications are regularly and carefully studied by the charity. “The aim is to be able to follow the projects through, not just to fund them and then do nothing,” says Ariane Favaloro. “It also depends on how much money we raise at each No Finish Line.”
Fortunately, the event is generating more and more enthusiasm in the Principality. Ariane Favaloro admits that she and her team of thirty volunteers sometimes feel a little overwhelmed. “No Finish Line has become an annual event that everyone looks forward to. In Monaco, word of mouth works well and partners and sponsors, whom I would like to thank, are easier to reach than in France, for example. We’re lucky that people have know about us for 25 years. They trust us.”
Last year, some 10,000 runners lined up at the start, raising more than 250,000 euros. Since the race was created, more than 164,000 participants have joined in, covering over 4 million kilometres, and funds totalling more than 4.8 million euros have already been donated to children’s projects.
And while Ariane Favaloro believes that every project is important, she is particularly moved by the young people who have come to the Principality for surgery. “I think that’s what has touched me the most,” she says with a smile. “Seeing children that were sick when we met them, at the Cardio-Thoracic Centre, full of beans and ready to go home… It gets me every time. All this work takes a great deal of time and energy, but we know what we’re doing it for.”
How to help
For the moment, there has been no decision on the next project to be funded through the race. But Ariane Favaloro assures us that there is no shortage of ideas.
The charity hopes that runners and walkers will be out in force again this year. You can also support Children & Future through a donation on its website or by joining its team of volunteers.
Practical details for No Finish Line:
- Dates : 11 to 19 November
- Adults: €23
- Children: €16
- Tracking chip: €10 euros (deposit)
- 24 hour trophy (18 to 19 Novembre): €50 euros (chip included)
- Individual, team or Trophy entries via Children & Future’s website