MEDIA STATEMENT – Husky Energy KIDZ WITH HEART Mini Olympics – an amazing day

Jingshan Villa’s – Shekou was a buzz of activity Saturday May 12 as the 1^st Annual HUSKY ENERGY KIDZ WITH HEART Mini Olympics was held.  150 kids competed in multiple events including a swim, soccer shoot, basketball shoot and race, in order to promote sport and fitness and support a good cause at the same time.

The event was a fund-raiser organized by Captivating International; a Hong Kong registered charity that helps orphaned, abandoned and poorest-of-the-poor children around China as well as helping entire village communities in remote locations rise out of poverty.

300 parents, 80 volunteers, local businesses and multiple companies supported the event and a great day of fun and excitement was had by all.

The success of these events come down to good organization and planning, and the voluntary organizing committee did an outstanding job.  Our congratulations to Rita Kelly, Claire Taylor of Snap Dragon, Anna Lolomari, Greg Schultheis from Amrosia, Alena Bednarova, Vivian Yuan, David Shomaker from Dawei Awesome swim club, Jeanetta Robinson and Zachary Hany from Fusion Fitness.  This group was supported by co-organizing partners on the day – Jingshan Villa’s, International SOS Medical Clinic, Shenzhen Standard and Shenzhen Party – all playing their part in making this a wonderful event.

As a fund-raiser, this event had fantastic corporate support, thanks in no small part to the fund-raising efforts of Anna Lolomari. The key sponsor of the event was Husky Energy who took the honor of having the event named after them.  Fantastic support was also received from Chevron, China Merchants and Amrosia Global Sourcing and Inspection, with all three companies taking on event sponsorship status.  ZIM Intergrated Shipping Services and our two local international schools, SIS and QSI sponsored individual events with the two schools actively promoting the event to students and staff.  Individuals and small companies became patrons by making a donation, these were Lynn Velez, More Design, Madd Gear and Anna Lolomari. As for food and drink, this was voluntarily catered for by Ailian from THE BOATHOUSE with the assistance of Dan Pippin.  Rainer from BACKSTUBE GERMAN BAKERY also provided food and drink and great raffle prizes were donated by MADDGEAR toys, FUSION FITNESS and ZUMBA.

But the day was all about the kids.  Seeing the fun and excitement of the 150 kids competing throughout the morning was, well, simply captivating.  Andrew Colquhoun, co-founder and CEO of Captivating International, said, “All these kids competing and having fun is thanks to the combination of an amazingly well organized event coupled with incredible and motivated volunteers.  Seeing volunteers giving high-5’s, squirting hot kids with water-guns, and cheering on all the kids at their event or under their care – that’s the highlight of today for me.  And to have an event like this run so efficiently is all about great organisation and thinking through the details.  The organizing committee has been amazing”.  Tina Guo from Husky Energy in her speech to the crowd said, “I would like to thank the organizing committee for doing such a wonderful job and all the children here today for competing so hard and pushing yourselves to the limit.  You can all stand proud today”.

Congratulations to all participants who each received a mini-Olympics medal and special congratulations to the award winners, who proudly received their gold, silver and bronze medals and represented their country on the podium at the end of the event.

Thanks to the support of volunteers, parents, kids and the wonderful corporate support, close to RMB150,000 was raised to support the work of Captivating International.  In his speech of thanks, Andrew Colquhoun stated, “We at Captivating are passionate about one thing and one thing only – to bring hope and a future to children and families who without our collective help face uncertain futures.  Thanks to today’s event, Captivating International can keep on course for another year.  Thank you Shekou.”  TO SEE MORE PHOTOS, GO TO WWW.CAPTIVATINGKIDZ.ORG

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