Mars Refuel Fund: A Great way to give back to the sports community
It is not everyday that you see a confectionery manufacturer going out of its way to give back to the community. It is even rarer when that confectionery company donates money and time to sports projects around the country. It can be seen as a contradiction of sorts because chocolates and sweets are not the healthiest things in the world and one would not instantly associate a company like Mars with sports. However, the company has branched out and is trying to do something very noble by giving back to the sports community.
Mars is a global confectionery company that operates in six different segments around the world. The segments they operate in are very diverse, the segments are; Chocolate, Petcare, Wrigley Gum and Confections, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience. From humble beginnings as a family owned business, the company has grown and evolved to become a global player in many different fields and generates revenues in excess of $28 billion a year. With all that money at their fingertips, they decided to give some of it back to their consumers in an innovative project called Mars Refuel Fund.
The Mars Refuel Fund is an innovative and unique support program for sports teams and sporting individuals in the UK. The fund is basically a 10,000 pound money pot that is available to give away each month. Each application that is chosen would get 500 pounds towards improving their teams. It would help in raising funds to buy new team uniforms, new shoes, and new equipment or fund the travel expenses of a team travelling abroad to a contest. By giving away so much money to so many different teams and individuals, the fund has helped many people and children get back into sports.
The actual drink that this fund is based on; Mars Refuel, is a great energy providing drink that athletes could use to replenish their bodies after a strenuous workout or game. That is where the connection comes in between a confectionery company and sports. The drink itself is meant to be consumed after sporting competitions and is positioned in the market as such. With the amount of calories and nutrients lost by the body during a heavy workout, having an energy filled drink is a great way to get those nutrients back in the body. The fund itself would tie into the drink and help improve sales, while also helping budding athletes to achieve their dreams.
It is very hard for struggling athletes to go out and be able to practise the sport they love. It costs a lot of money to pursue a sports dream and it is a very good sign that this type of a fund is available to those that need it the most. There are many barriers that stop people from taking part in exercise and becoming healthy. With obesity on the rise and at dangerous levels amongst children at the moment, something needed to be done to break done these barriers. The top three barriers to starting exercising amongst people surveyed were that firstly people were not interested in taking part in exercise, while the second reason was that a lot of people felt they were too unfit to start any sort of physical activity. The third reason that was given was the fact that people could not afford it. With the price of gym memberships soaring and people just not having enough money to spare on exercise, the Mars Refuel Fund came to the rescue by helping people get up and start to take part in making themselves become fit and healthy.
One organisation that the fund helped was the Lincs Parkour Community. This community is based on the sport of Parkour, which involves running from one place to the next in the most innovative and interesting way possible. It is also called free running in some places. The Lincs Parkour Community help local children become healthy and active by engaging them in the very fun activity of Prakour and getting them to be fitter. It is run by a man named Dale Annous and he wants to get kids off their sofas and into urban areas running around and having a good time. It is great to see the fund actually helping kids and adults become healthier and fitter.
This fund helped many people to become healthy and to achieve their sports dreams. It is a very noble project and it would be good to see more companies around the world doing campaigns like this to get people motivated in sports and live healthier lifestyles.
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