NOVEMBER 1, 2026
#20kmGeneve
How do I act with my company?
JOIN THE CHALLENGE AND TOGETHER, LET'S SAVE A CHILD
THE
CONCEPT
Give your colleagues the opportunity to give their heart to their race by donating CHF 2 per kilometer covered for each runner.
Each KM traveled = 2 CHF donated to Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque
Each runner on your team will be given a red wristband, which they can wear on their left wrist, near their heart. Their goal? To bring this wristband to the finish line and turn this effort into hope for a child with a heart condition anywhere in the world.
UNTIL THE FINISH, HAND ON HEART!
1
Bring your employees together around a sporting, supportive and motivating project.
2
Give meaning to their participation by transforming each km into a donation of 2CHF.
3
Join your company in a concrete action: collectively, we can SAVE A CHILD!
YOUR IMPACT
Ready to join the Run For Kids challenge to save a child?
Download the commitment charter, fill in your information and send it by email to sklinguer@mecenat-cardiaque.org
RUN FOR CHILDREN WITH HEART PAIN!
One in 100 children worldwide is born with a heart defect. In some countries, there are neither the technical nor financial resources to operate on them. It is for these children that Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque (Cardiac Surgery Sponsorship) works.
to finance their operation in Switzerland, France or Belgium and offer them a second chance at life.
You can help us save children with heart conditions around the world by participating in the Balexert 20km of Geneva: dedicate a few kilometers or your entire race by making a donation and make your heart beat for the children!
Medical care for a child costs the Association an average of CHF 12,000 . If every participant registered for the Balexert 20km of Geneva makes a donation, we can all save a child together!
That's the greatest reward!
Cardiac Surgery Sponsorship in Switzerland
Since the Association was founded in 1996 by Professor Francine Leca, 5,600 children have been cared for.
At the end of 2022, Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque began a collaboration with hospitals in Geneva and Lausanne, and already nearly 300 children have benefited from the repair of their heart disease in Switzerland.
Children aged two or younger are taken in by volunteer foster families who care for them from their arrival until their return home, including their operation and convalescence.
Children over two years old stay at La Maison Terre des Hommes Valais, a reassuring and comfortable living environment where they are surrounded by other children and caring staff. This medical center, located in Massongex, welcomes them with care, accompanying them from their arrival, when they are ill, until their departure, in good health.
They didn't have the opportunity to have surgery in their own country, but we repaired their hearts in Switzerland.
Abdoulkarim, 3 years old, Comoros
Sheikh Ahmad Bamba, 1.5 years old, Senegal
Guy Charmant, 6 years old, Burundi
Mael, 1 year old, DRC
Ndiaga, 1 year old, Senegal
Reem, 2 years old, Syria
Shadia, 5 years old, Burundi
How to act with Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque?
By making a donation when you register for the Balexert 20km of Geneva or now using the donation form:
Or by becoming a host family :
Host families play an essential role in the journey of sick children by accommodating them and taking care of them for an average of 8 weeks, from meeting the child at the airport, sick, until their departure, cured, and throughout their health journey. Everyone can join our team, whether you are single, married, with or without children... You only need to have a vehicle, be available full-time for the child and live approximately an hour's drive from the HUG in Geneva.
About Cardiac Surgery Patronage
Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque enables children with heart defects to undergo surgery in two Swiss cities (Geneva and Lausanne), eleven French cities (Angers, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Paris, Saint-Denis de La Réunion, Strasbourg, Toulouse, and Tours), and one Belgian city (Brussels) when surgery is impossible in their home country due to a lack of technical or financial resources. They are then hosted by volunteer families and sometimes in a residential care home in Switzerland.
More than 5,600 children have been cared for since the Association was created in 1996 by Professor Francine Leca, founder of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque.
More information on mecenat-cardiaque.org
Contact: +33 (0)1 49 24 02 02; info@mecenat-cardiaque.org
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