Not Just a Walk: Ahmedabad’s Motif Charity Walk in its 15th year

Next Sunday, join Ahmedabad’s famous city walk and be part of something bigger. This is more than just a walk– walk for a cause, walk for your health, walk for joy.

With an exaggerated increase in obesity cases, and an eruption of new diseases amongst city dwellers, driven by habits and lifestyle, a corporate body here decided to invent – 14 years ago – an activity whereby health becomes a motivation for celebration. Every year, Motif, a BPO and KPO company based in Ahmedabad, has been organising the ‘Motif Charity Walk‘, which by now is much more and ‘not just a walk’. By combining healthy habits with festive environment, Motif created an opportunity for city dwellers to mingle for a cause. The Motif Charity Walk has, till date, raised more than 5.02 crore rupees (USD 750,000.00) cumulatively for donation that has been contributed amongst 43 NGO’s.

Motif Charity Walk : The Humble Beginnings

It all began with a humble count of 700 walkers and increased up to 5000 pro-active ones within the span of 14 years. Men, women, children and even pets come every year to walk for a cause. Motif has till now witnessed more than 58,825 participants during their initiative and the participation is increasing every year. It is not just the ticket amount that is delegated amongst the selected social welfare institutions, the selection of which changes every year. More than 237 sponsors have been connected to 43 beneficiaries over last 14 seasons and all these years Motif has continued to contribute a healthy sum for diverse social causes. The name of the enlisted NGOs are transparently declared beforehand, and anyone who wishes to give more than just the ticket amount (which is a mandatory Walk Registration fee) can also donate directly towards an NGO. The chosen causes for this year have 3 distinct themes : Special Children, Lower Income Group women and Elder Care – these causes shall be supported through four NGO’s namely, Bharat Lokhit Seva Samiti Trust (Chinmay), Sabarmati Harijan Ashram Trust,  Samerth Charitable Trust and Shree Bhagwati Jeevan Sandhya Vrudhashram Trust.

Motif Charity Walk : Founders Speak

Founder of this initiative and, of course, the company Motif, Mr. Kaushal Mehta is himself a marathon runner and has participated in a dozen races across the globe. His vision is to showcase a CSR activity that generates value and creates opportunities, over and above the more mundane cheque-writing formalities. His idea of promoting health as a chance for celebration, with live bands and cheerful volunteers welcome at the walk, is something unique and beneficiary to every Amdavadi. Co-Founder of Motif, Ms. Parul Mehta accentuates, “Each one of us should be responsible, and have some ownership towards society, try and give services beyond what you normally do for yourself, not just focus on your own selfish reasons, but also look how you can bring the entire community up by providing services and support towards a cause of your choice.”

About the 15th edition of Motif Charity Walk

The 15th Motif Charity Walk will take place on February 26, 2017, from 07:00 AM onwards. The track starts from the LD College of Engineering, and it has been segregated into two phases – a 5 km Run and a 9.5 km Run. Motif matches Rs. 300/- per registered individual participant of walk (upto Rs. 10 lakhs per annum) and to achieve the targets, Motif volunteers as well as the founders themselves do on-ground activities for the registration drive. This is a one-of-a-kind CSR act that the city witnesses. To add to the spirit of the sport of running, Mehta throws open a challenge every year –  those who can run faster than Mehta, and cross the finish line before him, their ticket value shall be matched up to 10 times by Motif; also a special lunch with Mehta and the core Motif Team.

The idea of ‘walking’ as a fun thing to do on a Sunday morning is an unlikely motivation for the couch potato digital age generation to gulp in. But people like Mehta, who employ maximum youth between the age group of 22-25, have been doing this energetically since the past 14 years. This unique effort of Motif has received various recognitions, significant among many is the ‘Best Corporate Social Responsibility Company in Gujarat’ awarded by GESIA, for four years in a row, starting from 2011.

It is a fantastic case study whereby a Corporate Social Responsibility, largely considered mandatory, is turned upside down, and taken as seriously as a profit centre, resulting into an impact that becomes far-reaching than the actual cheque value; to an extent that the result becomes nearly independent of the corporate’s donation value. The interest of Team CY in the event is, due to the larger cultural significance that the Motif Charity Walk has earned – more among the city, than the actual organisers.

The winners of Motif Charity Walk 2017 are declared on their official website and to know more information on it, follow hashtags #MotifCharityWalk #WalkForACause #CharityWalk #CharityEvent #CYatMotif on social media or stay tuned with Creative Yatra, a partner in Motif Charity Walk.

So Ahmedabad, register for the Motif Charity Walk 2017 to groove, move, donate, celebrate and stay healthy!

Click to Register for 15th edition of MOTIF CHARITY WALK 2017