The Armed Forces of Malta C Special Duties Company (1 Regiment) is proud to announce that €21,967.62 were collected during the 4 week ‘March for Puttinu’ Campaign.
The idea march was born and developed by C’ Special Duties Company and the Public Information Cell of the AFM with support from the business community as well as members of the public that gave their donations during the march.
C (SD) Company is an elite company made of 110 soldiers who are all volunteers to participate in EU LED Crisis Management Operations, most of whom have already deployed in support of KOSOVO AID; EU NAVFOR; EUTM SOMALIA; EUMM GEORGIA; and several FRONTEX deployments.
This company is made up of highly trained and fit young soldiers, who out of their own initiative, came up with the idea to organise a charity event in aid of Puttinu Cares.
At the beginning the event was to take shape in the form of a fun run however these motivated soldiers kept coming up with more ideas and eventually the event was dubbed as March For Puttinu.
All C (SD) Coy soldiers pledged to participate in the event. The event kicked of earlier on the 11th of December when all Company soldiers presented themselves at the blood transfusion centre to donate blood. With this injection of donated blood Mater Dei Hospital was temporarily alleviated of blood shortage.
On Friday 3rd January, the same soldiers marched along a 15km route in full uniform carrying 20 kg of weight in their back pack. At Msida Creek (near Black Pearl), the soldiers dared the cold winter waters and swam across to Maritime Squadron base (Haywharf) fully clothed and immediately continued their March up to City Gates Valletta.
At City Gates the soldiers were awaited by young children who are currently benefiting from assistance provided by Puttinu Care Foundation. The soldiers together with these young real life heroes marched up towards St Georges Square and together did their best to collect more funds.
An SMS hot line had been set-up and everyone was urged to participate in this noble cause. The public participated by donating via sms and cheered and supported soldiers along the route.
This AFM C (SD) Company initiative supported by AFM’s Public Information Cell to help child cancer patients would not have been possible without the collaboration of several sponsors who contributed substantially towards the cause.
The AFM would like to thank the general public for their contributions and for their support, as well as, corporate sponsors who helped make this concerted effort possible.