ATHENS – How do you plan to celebrate the New Year? If the idea of sitting and watching the countdown on TV leaves you feeling less than inspired, kick off the New Year with a new experience and a new source of positive energy. Dare to do something different, while offering a small gift to children in need.

This New Year’s Eve, join SNF RUN: 2019 FIRST RUN, a race organized by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), under the supervision of the NGO “Regeneration & Progress,” and welcome the New Year with your friends and family in the Christmas World of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC).

For the third consecutive year, the SNF RUN is part of the Christmas time celebration hosted by the SNFCC, with the exclusive support of the SNF. The race covers a 4-kilometer route that crosses the Canal and the Esplanade, reaches the waterfront and then returns via the Running Track and the Stavros Niarchos Park to the finish line at the Canal, close to the Visitors Center.

The race will start four seconds after midnight on Tuesday, January 1st, 2019.

Live commentary will be provided by journalist Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

SNFCC is already a popular holiday destination for Athenians and visitors alike, and this New Year’s Eve it is hosting a grand variety of events, through a rich program that covers all tastes. The night starts with a live broadcast of the traditional Berliner Philharmoniker’s New Year’s Eve concert and then Italian singer Mario Biondi performs live at the Stavros Niarchos Hall.

Just before midnight, the party starts at the Agora, with a lot of music, ice-skating and a spectacular fireworks show. Right after, the SNF RUN: 2019 FIRST RUN will commence, while Huey Morgan, frontman of Fun Lovin’ Criminals will kick off a blasting DJ set.

The SNF RUN: 2019 FIRST RUN takes place with the exclusive support of the SNF, which covers the full cost of organizing the event.

This year’s race invites the runners to join forces, and, with the further contribution of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, transform their participation into a New Year’s gift for children that need it the most.

Participants in the race will have the opportunity to support a non-profit organization of their choice through the contribution of a nominal participation fee (minimum proposed contribution of €5). With the SNF’s further support, the amount donated will be tripled, augmenting the initial gift offered by the runners themselves.

The non-profit organizations participating in this year’s event work to support children. They have been selected on the basis of their proven work in their field of expertise and are long-term partners of the SNF. Participants can choose which of the three organizations they wish to support.

The organizations that will be supported this year are: Amimoni, ELEPAP, and Floga.

Maximum number of participants: 2,019

More information is available online: snf.org.

The SNF RUN: 2019 FIRST RUN race is not competitive in nature. However, official times will be kept so that runners can know how they perform in achieving their first goal for 2019. Medals will also be awarded to the three female and three male runners who finish first.

About the non-profit organizations and the specific projects that will be supported:

Amimoni: Activity Nest

The Activity Nest is a sensory stimulus space for visually impaired children with additional disabilities, customizable according to the needs of each child. A space constructed to resemble a “nest” in the sense that a child has the opportunity to reach for and explore a variety of items that stimulate its senses.

The Activity Νest gives children the opportunity to explore and practice their skills, learn through hands-on activities, improve sensory coordination, develop concentration, and encounter visual stimuli in their own pace and interest. The main objective is for the visually impaired children to have access, on a daily basis, to pleasant activities, improving their overall development and functional vision.

Support from runners and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation will allow families in need to acquire an Activity Nest for their child’s everyday play and development.

Amymoni is a Panhellenic Association of Parents, Guardians, and Friends of Multiply Disabled Visually Impaired people, helping children and adults with vision problems and additional disabilities become as autonomous and independent as possible. It provides services from infants to adults, and their families, including education, treatment, counseling, and support.

The Hellenic Society for Disabled Children (ELEPAP): GO BABY GO

Launched in the U.S. by the University of Delaware, GO BABY GO aims to give children with neurodevelopmental disorders the opportunity to move independently, while providing entertainment through play. The program serves to children ages 2 to 6 and is implemented using electric motorized toy cars for children.

With the help of volunteers, the cars are adapted according to the needs of each child. The specially modified electric cars enable children with mobility problems to explore their surroundings and improve their spatial awareness, visual perception, speech, and cognitive and psychomotor development, among others.

With the support of the runners and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, ELEPAP aims to cover the cost of purchasing 50 special motorized children’s cars.

The Hellenic Society for Disabled Children (ELEPAP) was established in 1937 in Athens. It provides holistic, multi-disciplinary, and innovative intervention programs to 1,600 children with developmental motor disorders (cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, and motor disorders caused by genetic conditions or traumatic brain injury) annually.

Floga: Christmas Program for the 52 Families Hosted in the Floga Hostels

In its Hostels, Floga hosts children with cancer who are in Athens to receive treatment, but whose families live outside the city. This Christmas, Floga wants to unite families—even if only for a few days—so they can celebrate the holiday together.

With the support of the runners and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Floga will cover the children’s travel expenses so that they can go home for Christmas. Alternatively, in the cases of children whose condition does not allow them to travel, Floga will cover the costs for the rest of the family to travel to Athens to spend the holidays with them. The program will also cover the cost of attending

Christmas events, as well as the preparation of Christmas meals at the Hostels.
Floga was founded in 1982 by parents whose children suffer from cancer, aiming to provide the best possible medical, psychological, and social care to children and their families.