Midnight on Saturday November 15th, 2008, saw the kick off of the third of ORBIS-Bupa´s hugely successful annual Moonwalkers. In all, over 8,500 "heroes" walked from Mong Kok Fa Hui Park to Sai Kung Pier. Many highly creative participants joined the event´s Hero Image Contest and undertook the grueling 20-kms journey from darkness into light dressed in full superhero costumes! Best of all, while enjoying a truly unique evening, this year´s Moonwalkers raised in excess of HK$5.7million in support of ORBIS´s global sight saving initiatives.
ORBIS and Bupa have organized this innovative annual fundraising event every year since 2006. Those who lined up at Mong Kok Fa Hui Park for this year´s 12:00a.m., start faced a lengthy night time walk of approximately six hours to the finish line at Sai Kung Pier. Along the way, the Moonwalkers passed through Kowloon City, San Po Kong, Choi Hung and Ta Ku Ling. In keeping with the event´s theme of "being a hero and saving the sight of the preventably blind", a special "Hero Image Contest" was held during the event´s starting ceremony. The contest was a great success with around 700 participants dressing up as their favourite superheroes. In doing so, entrants not only demonstrated their kindness and endurance in saving sight, but also brought much good cheer to everyone involved on the 20-kms journey. Still more participants braved a "Blindfold Experience" in Kowloon City´s Carpenter Road Park. During this section of the Moonwalk, blindfolded participants walked hand-in-hand for approximately 10 minutes. The ultimate idea was to give everyone a taste of just how difficult – and sometimes dangerous – life can be for the blind.
Said ORBIS Hong Kong, Director of Development, Ms. Mary Lau: "Every year, we have seen a significant increase in the number of participants for the ORBIS-Bupa Moonwalkers. This year´s 8,500 participants underlined Hong Kong people´s unselfishness in helping the needlessly blind. ORBIS will use everyone´s generous donations to train medical professionals and build medical facilities in the developing countries. We offer our heartfelt thanks to Bupa and the many supporters, sponsors and co-sponsors without who this year´s Moonwalkers would not have been nearly so successful."
During the opening ceremony of this year´s Moonwalkers, the event´s four "top fundraisers"
Speaking at this year´s opening ceremony, the Managing Director of Bupa (Asia) Limited, Ms. Ann Coughlan, said: "Bupa has been working hard to provide top quality health protection to individuals and companies in Hong Kong. Both ORBIS and Bupa believe prevention is better than cure. That´s why we have once again joined forces to promote sight-saving by organizing Moonwalkers for a third year. Our thanks to the many heroes who have helped bring hope and health to the needy by supporting the 2008 event."
To encourage participants to share their memories of – and feelings about – the 2008 Moonwalkers, ORBIS has created an online "Moonwalkers´
For details, please visit http://www.bupa.com.hk/
