British philanthropist’s epic run for Filipino dreams
Marko Kasic, a British philanthropist and founder of FundLife, a nongovernmental organization established to rebuild communities devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in Tacloban City, has completed a 600-km running challenge across Luzon, to urge greater investment in grassroots sports for children in the Philippines.
Following the recent success of Filipino athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kasic emphasizes the need for substantial support to help young Filipinos reach their full potential.
The project, Move Luzon “Run with Purpose,” is part of FundLife’s Play Equity Pledge to campaign for the freedom all children should have to play and learn safely. Specifically, the effort aims to provide 5,000 underserved children access to running clinics and equip a hundred DepEd teachers with the basics to teach running classes.
FundLife uses sports to protect, educate and empower vulnerable children to work hard for a better life. Hence, the project was conceived to encourage Filipino children to start running, which can lead to educational opportunities.
“If they excel at running or any sport, it could provide them an athletic scholarship to finish high school and enter college. Running can be an attainable pathway from poverty to educational and economic prosperity,” Kasic said.
His two-week run began at Patapat Viaduct, Pagudpud, on July 8 and ended in Metro Manila on July 21. Throughout his 14-day journey, Kasic covered the equivalent of 14 marathons while engaging with both running and nonrunning communities. He ran solo for most of his trip but was joined by over 300 members of the Rockwell Run Club on the last 21 kilometer- and 10 km-stretches.
For Kasic, this run was also a campaign to influence decisionmakers in the business world to approach charity projects with a sustainable mindset, ensuring lasting social impact.
Beauty and potential
The Move Luzon initiative also showcased the beauty and potential of Luzon’s communities. It was a partnership between FundLife and the Bike Scouts project, a social platform aimed at helping people and bicycles become movers of true community-based resilience.
Since 2014, FundLife has been dedicated to promoting purposeful play and equitable education for marginalized and vulnerable children. Its flagship project, Football for Life Academy, aimed to help Filipino children achieve their dreams through football. It had 4,546 children participating in after-school football sessions and classroom sessions by the end of 2018.
To encourage more girls to take up sports, FundLife launched the Girls Community League, a futsal league for adolescent girls in Cebu. This project won global acclaim at the Paris Sports Week for its innovative approach to keeping girls in education and gaining the support of the public.
FundLife is also actively involved in providing safe spaces for children. In Tacloban, the Generation Amazing Community Center, an integrated community and learning center for children, will open in October. The P25 million community-owned space will house a multipurpose sports hall, integrated learning and employment training room, community canteen and a community costudy and coworking space.
In 2021, FundLife, in collaboration with the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, provided hundreds of Samal-Bajau children safe spaces for recreational and educational play during the COVID-19 pandemic by building the first-ever floating football pitch in the country located in Maluso, Basilan, Mindanao.
