3000 km Covered, 6000 Euros Raised, & 50 Staff Exhausted … but Happy – Our Charity Event 2021!#ENEA4INDIA
From Northern Ireland to India, the US to Spain, and not forgetting Croatia, Austria, Canada, the UK and Sweden …. this week saw the culmination of a mammoth worldwide fundraising effort by TEAM ENEA!
50 members of Enea’s global team, alongside friends and family, pulled out all the stops for this year’s ambitious charity event to raise funds after what has been yet another challenging year due to the impact of COVID-19. This year’s record-breaking number of participants from Enea’s worldwide team came together physically and remotely, “following the sun”, to contribute to a great cause, get active both outdoors and indoors and – for one or two – even regain some fitness after recovering from COVID.
The choice is yours!
Those who took part were given the option to engage in an activity of their own choice, and as far apart as the countries ranged so did the activities. The amazing efforts in India included lengthy bike rides, badminton games and long hikes, overcoming both monsoon rain and heat! The teams took part from Bangalore, Gujarat, and our office centred in Pune – with our cyclists, kitted out in new Enea gear, shining as brightly as the Indian sun!
Team Pune started at 6am, covered 40km, navigated tricky roads and were rewarded with fantastic scenery
Left to right: Santa and Abhijit starting their cycling route in Bangalore. Pragnesh completes Pavagadh Mountain in somewhat heavy rains! And Abishek and friends begin their hill walk for #Enea4India
Meanwhile, our teams in Northern Ireland had NO ISSUES with heat or sun (surprise, surprise!) but they did face battering Atlantic rains! Thankfully it stopped raining just long enough for some truly breathtaking views! Team Belfast pushed through to impressive feats – a 40-mile bike ride led by Fergus Wills, a 14-mile misty hike to the top of Castle Hill led by Julie Ferry and… 5 staggered open water swims by Arthur Marshall! The Belfast cyclists picked up two punctures along the way but that didn’t dent their enthusiasm. In fact, even Chris Goswami’s sedate pace of cycling didn’t stop them – although it probably added an extra hour to the ride! But in typical Enea style of “leave no one behind”, no one was abandoned!
Team Belfast enjoying “coffee and scones” –riding 40 miles along Northern Ireland’s magnificent coastline
The summit of Cave Hill, Belfast is finally conquered by our intrepid Enea walkers on an epic 5-hour, 14-mile “hike-athon”.
Can you believe one of our walkers, Mahendra, set off at 6am alone to complete the Northern Ireland cycle route and THEN joined the walk! Well done Mahendra!
From teams to individuals
Alongside these efforts we were further impressed and motivated by the feats of individual Enea participants across other countries including Croatia, Sweden, Canada, the US and Spain who did their part, cycling and hiking to help us not only achieve but break our 2021 fundraising target!
Arthur Marshall, open water swimming in Northern Ireland. Ramon Valero pedalling for Enea in Spain, and Dean Crook’s 50km bike ride in Florida
Sergio Steiger also making his cycling contribution from Florida
(Sergio, is that a friendly neighbour or is he waiting for you to fall in?!)
Mark on day 1 of his Canadian ride; Ovais has apparently started his training for 2022!; Saransh on his Viennese walk and Swanand on his cycle tour of Pune
Rajib Dutta cycling in India, Andrew-Jay Séguin on his 31k trail run in Croatia and Chevaan of Sonus PR cycling in London
Jan Häglund CEO commented, “It’s inspiring and heart-warming to see initiatives in Enea like this. We are more than technologists and managers, and events like these make that so clear! Congratulations and a huge thank you to all those who took part in #Enea4India – I feel proud to be working with you guys!”
A worthy cause
The money that has been raised from #ENEA4INDIA will be donated to a worthy cause that several of our staff in India have been working to support both before and during the COVID crisis. The Aadharwad Foundation (aadharwadfoundation.org), an active charitable trust, offers educational, medical and humanitarian assistance for people in Maharashtra (the location of our Pune office). Recently it has also delivered critical COVID relief.
The money raised by Team Enea will strengthen this COVID relief work for the people of Maharashtra by, amongst other things, establishing medical facilities and an oxygen bank free of charge. What’s more, it will also be used to support the education of under-privileged children, by paying their fees and providing academic books and notebooks.
Shyam Wadhekar, President of the Aadharwad Foundation said, “We are overwhelmed, truly staggered by the generosity shown by the staff of Enea. The time and effort you have all put in to generate funds will not only save lives but also transform lives. It’s wonderful to see so many people from such a range of countries doing this for us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts Team Enea!”
