Charity hopes for help from runners

A CHARITY is hoping to collect four months’ supply of milk this weekend at the 25^th edition of the Malaga City half-marathon.

Corazones Malagueños is a charity that works to ensure people in need do not starve and hands out at least 400 snack-bags every day.

A simple sandwich and a glass of milk can mean the difference for those who visit the charity between going to bed with an empty stomach and killing hunger pangs.

Yet the charity, run by Elena Jimenez, often has trouble finding enough to go round due to ever-increasing demand from people in need.

Volunteers Alejandro Perez and Juan Jesus Pareja, who often spend their free afternoons making sandwiches for the charity, came up with a plan to appeal to the estimated 7,000 runners taking part in the half-marathon this Sunday, March 22, for help collecting milk, a staple that is one of the first the charity frequently runs out of.

 “It’s heartbreaking to have to turn a mother away when she’s come for milk and you have none to give her,” Jimenez said.

The charity reached an agreement with the marathon organisers whereby it will have a stand by the athletics stadium on Friday and Saturday, and appeals to runners to take a carton of milk with them to hand over when they collect their numbers for the race.

The volunteers explained that if each of the 7,000 runners expected donate just one carton of milk, the charity would have enough to cover its needs for four months.