#MyMercyRun pays tribute to everyday heroes
KUALA LUMPUR: If you saw Captain America and Iron Man running with a group of people this morning, fear not, Malaysia is not under attack from evil aliens.
Instead, they, along with 1,622 others, are running in #MyMERCYRun to raise awareness that not all heroes wear flamboyant costumes and eat super-powered villains for breakfast.
Mercy Malaysia (Mercy) honorary secretary Datin Raja Riza Shazmin Badrul Shah said volunteers for various charitable and humanitarian organisations in Malaysia, too, are heroes.
Riza said this serves as the main source of inspiration for this year's run, themed "Run like a Superhero", which itself is staffed by about 400 volunteers from all walks of life.
"Volunteers from all walks of life are all heroes. To be able to devote so much time, energy, and effort into volunteering, it is something that only special people can do," she told theSun during the run.
Riza said it is through the work of volunteers that organisations such as Mercy can gain the public support they need, both in funds and manpower, to provide humanitarian aid in crisis situations.
She said one of such special persons is a long time volunteer photographer for Mercy, known as Pak Tam, who had helped greatly in spreading news of the organisation's work.
Riza said Tam, who only passed away a few days ago, was at the forefront with Mercy during the Nepal Earthquake, the Kelantan Floods, in the Philippines after it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan, and many others.
Mercy executive committee member Dr Jitendra Kumar said Tam's passion was photography and knew fully well that Mercy needed his skills to spread the word.
"He was a down-to-earth sort of man. Simple thoughts, wonderful heart, knows what needs to be done at the end of the day so that people can see what Mercy is doing and get more public support," Jitendra said.
Pak Tam's work, he added, had certainly driven more people to volunteer with Mercy.
#MyMERCYRun was flagged off by Mercy president Datuk Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus at about 7.30am, with more than 1,200 participants running in the 3km, 7km, and 15km categories, raising RM113,000 which will be channelled to Mercy's General Humanitarian Fund.