WHAT'S NEW AT ALOFT ABU DHABI

ALOFT RUNS FOR CHILDREN @ ADNEC

In Support Of Starwood's 2010 Road To Awareness Campaign To Raise Money For UNICEF's Education Programmes In South Africa

Abu Dhabi - 15th August 2010 - In support of Starwood's 2010 Road to Awareness campaign, Aloft Abu Dhabi will host the "Aloft Runs for Children @ ADNEC" on Friday September 17th, 2010.

The run will take place over 12 hours from 7 am till 7 pm and is open for both teams and individuals. Although the objective is to complete 12 hours of running, participants can run any distance. Teams and individuals will compete for different challenges including most kilometers ran in 12 hours per team, best performance for the special runs (6, 10, and 20km runs), youngest and oldest average team age, largest family and the best dress code.

For each kilometer ran, participants will enter a grand prize raffle for the chance to win one of many prizes including trips, stays, dinners, health club memberships and many more in one of the Starwood hotels around the world. UNICEF will use the money raised from the campaign to support their work helping to make basic quality-education accessible for all children in South Africa, with a special emphasis on helping the most disadvantaged to stay in school.

Education can transform lives and breaks the cycle of poverty in which children are caught. Many of them are often denied this basic right because they are poor, orphaned or simply because they are girls or live in a remote rural area.

The Road to Awareness donations will help UNICEF support 1,500 orphans and vulnerable children in 5 rural schools to complete their primary education and realize their full potential.  It will also help improve the quality of schooling by training 70 teachers in child-friendly education methods and allow the implementation of sports programs in 18 schools to enhance children's physical and psychological development.  

Stephan Vanden Auweele, General Manager of Aloft Abu Dhabi said of the fundraising initiative: "Education enables individuals to make genuine choices about the kind of lives they wish to lead. We are very enthusiastic about this run and encourage supporters and runners to spend a fun day at Aloft Abu Dhabi, especially that it is all for a good cause and another opportunity for those runners to train indoors during the hot summer days".

Each year Starwood's Road to Awareness campaign raises money for a different area of UNICEF's work. In 2009, the initiative raised over $200,000 for UNICEF's efforts to protect and improve the lives of children living and working on the streets of Egypt.

Now in its third year, Road to Awareness is part of the wider Check Out for Children partnership between Starwood Hotels and UNICEF.

Roeland Vos, President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa & Middle East, shares, "Over the last 15 years of Starwood's Check Out for Children partnership, guests and associates at participating hotels have raised over US$ 22 million for UNICEF globally. This has enabled the vaccination of more than one million children against six potentially fatal diseases and saved their lives. That's exactly what our partnership with UNICEF is all about. We look forward to working with UNICEF for many years to come and we are really proud of our associates who work so hard to contribute to these meaningful initiatives."

For more information on Road to Awareness and details on how to donate please go to http://www.roadtoawareness.com/

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