MUMBAI: Mumbai’s netizens broke all barriers to come together and use the platform of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2011 run on January 16, to raise a record `12.16 crore towards charity, benefiting 131 NGOs.
This was announced by United Way of Mumbai, the official charity partner, at a star-studded function here on Monday. The charity figures were released by Maharashtra K Sankaranarayanan in the presence of actors Milind Soman and Rahul Bose. Writer Shobhaa De, who generated `25.10 lakh for Childline Foundation, was given the award for the highest pledge raising woman.
The marathon is now easily the largest single charity raising platform in the country and over eight years has helped generate in excess of `60 crore for various causes. Shrimad Rajchandra Love & Care emerged the highest pledge raising NGO, having generated a staggering `77.26 lakh. Childline India Foundation was a close second, generating `76.78 lakh, while Paragon Charitable Trust was the third highest, raising `62.42 lakh. The 13-year-old Gaurangi Desai emerged the youngest Dream Maker, raising `3.63 lakh for Iskcon Food Relief Foundation.
The Corporate Challenge had 198 teams running from across 134 participating companies, a substantial increase from the 164 teams last year, representing 102 companies.
The highest pledge raising corporate was HDFC Bank, generating `18 lakh for Project Crayon, while The Aditya Birla Group raised `15 lakh for Paragon Charitable Trust. The nine Dream Champions raised a total of `1.28 crore, with Mihir Doshi raising the maximum amount of `25.23 lakh for Childline India Foundation.
The Highest Fund Raiser honour among men went to Dream Maker Nikhil Raghavan, who raised `37.34 lakh for the Akanksha Foundation. Uma Kadam from The Times of India won the 1st place in Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon Photography Award while Anshuman Poyrekar from Hindustan Times won the 1st runner up award.
The viewers choice award won by Kunal Patil from Hindustan Times and received `10,000.
