GE volunteers take part in annual GE 5K Fun Run to raise funds for children with special needs

Press release

Published February 16th, 2012 - 08:07 GMT

GE Volunteers - Charity run team

More than 130 GE employees, their family members and friends took part in the first-ever Annual GE 5K Fun Run and raised AED 16,590 in funds for children with special needs.

The cheque was presented by Elliot Lewis of GE Volunteers to Caron Whaley of The Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai, an organisation working towards the all-round welfare of children with special needs.

The Annual GE 5K Fun Run was co-sponsored by GE Volunteers, the volunteering arm of the company, and HealthAhead, a program aimed at fostering a culture of health among the company's employees.

The fun run witnessed the enthusiastic participation of children as well as adults, and flagged off from GE's regional headquarters at Dubai Internet City.

Volunteering is central to GE's commitment to the societies it serves in, and some 175 GE Volunteer Councils in 46 countries and over 100,000 volunteers undertake over 1 million hours of community service every year. GE Volunteers have undertaken more than 5,000 projects world-wide, and are actively involved in supporting community activities in the Middle East, especially in the UAE.

Last year, GE Volunteers in the UAE raised funds for Dubai Autism Center by taking part in the Dubai Marathon.

HealthAhead, launched by GE in 2009, aims to engage GE employees, retirees and families in creating a culture of health through an increased focus on nutrition, stress management, smoking cessation and promotion of physical activity.

At the core of the initiative is a commitment to creating healthy workplaces. The goal is that all our sites with over 100 employees will be certified as healthy workplaces by 2012.

Background Information

General Electric

GE provides knowledge, capacity building and training to empower the region’s workforce. Thirty percent of the Middle East and North Africa’s population is between the ages of 15 and 29. In the UAE, we’re partnering with the Mubadala Development Company to build local capacity by empowering local talent through trainings at our Leadership Acceleration for Business (LAB) initiative.

With 76 nationalities working in the region, GE proudly fosters diversity in the workforce. To accelerate the advancement of women, the Women’s Network, an affinity network at GE, creates opportunities for female employees to cultivate their leadership and business skills. GE is not just watching as the region realizes its future; we’re partnering to help build it.