More than 270 Roche employees took part in this year’s annual company organised walkathon last week, the Roche Children’s Walk, raising $130,000 for Singapore charities and children in need in developing countries. Roche is a leading global pharmaceuticals and diagnostics company, and has been in Singapore more than 40 years.

Half of the funds raised will be donated to local charities Club Rainbow Singapore and Children’s Cancer Foundation, providing the much needed support to children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and their families.

The remaining will go towards children’s initiatives in Malawi and other developing countries to foster sustainable change by contributing to educational infrastructure, training future teachers, building skills capacity, and improving health and sanitation.

Jerome Yuen, Executive Director of Club Rainbow Singapore, said: “Sadly, many of the children we support are facing life-threatening conditions and require ongoing medication, hospital visits and complicated therapy. We encourage public and corporate support such as Roche’s Children’s Walk to help these children and provide the critical services they need.”

“We are grateful for Roche’s continued support towards our mission to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families and children impacted by cancer. The donations raised will help to fund the free critical programmes and services at CCF and let our beneficiaries know that they are not alone in their battle against childhood cancer,” says Neo Lay Tin, Executive Director of Children’s Cancer Foundation.

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Lance Little, Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics Asia Pacific, said: “We believe strongly in the notion of sustainability when it comes to helping our local communities. As such, our efforts are aimed at creating long-term change for these children to ensure a brighter future for them.”

Since the launch of Roche Children’s Walk in 2003, more than 200,000 Roche employees have participated in the event, raising over CHF 15.4 million. Roche matches the money raised by employees, dollar for dollar. Roche Children’s Walk is the company’s signature worldwide employee project.

Since the launch of Roche Children’s Walk in 2003, more than 200,000 Roche employees have participated, raising over CHF 15.4 million. Last year, 144 Roche offices in 72 countries participated in the employee-driven campaign.

Roche employees have continuously raised money for children in need by joining the annual walk which takes place on 16th June – the International Day of the African Child. With the purpose of encouraging self-sustainable living through education and health programmes, money collected by employees is matched by Roche and used to support local children’s causes in communities where Roche operates, as well as in developing countries such as Malawi, Ethiopia and the Philippines.

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