Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

TENS of thousands of residents joined a New Year’s running activity Monday, which aimed to encourage citizens to go outdoors and get involved in charities on the first day of the year.

Themed “New Era, New Hope, New Starting Point,” the running activity, held from Monday to Sunday, also marked the beginning of this year’s Shenzhen Spring Project Care, which includes 1,025 public welfare activities to be launched in the city from January to February.

The main venue of the activity was Xiangmi Park in Futian District. Six subvenues have been set up at Shenzhen Bay, OCT Harbor, Window of the World, Ping’an Finance Center, Dapeng Peninsula and Wutong Mountain.

Through a step-counting app, citizens can exchange their accumulated mileage, with a minimum of 1,000 steps a day between Monday and Jan. 15, for money that will be donated to specific public welfare projects. According to official statistics, users of the app have accumulated nearly 5.62 million kilometers in 2016, equivalent to 140 trips around the equator of Earth. Over the past two years, the organizers have raised more than 30 million yuan (US$4.62 million).

In addition to running, citizens can also go to libraries, bookstores and community service stations to participate by donating their steps on the app. The donations have been provided by enterprises and will go to specific public welfare projects.

Additionally, as an innovation, this year’s running activity has invited another 20 cities in the country to join, in the hope of expanding its influence in the name of public welfare.

Organized by the city’s civility office and the Shenzhen Project Care Organizing Committee Office, the activity is an important part of the annual Shenzhen Project Care, which has been held for 14 consecutive years, facilitating more than 25,000 charity events to help the needy in the city.