Natalia Vodianova, founder of the Naked Heart Foundation and GUERLAIN muse, has united the worlds of beauty and philanthropy once again, running 21.1 km in Paris for her charity and raising almost €170,000 for the organisation’s work with children with special needs in Russia.
The model was joined by her good friend and fellow model Karlie Kloss and Editor-at-Large of American Harper’s Bazaar Derek Blasberg.
“They sometimes say about fashion that ‘you have to suffer for beauty’, that it requires some sacrifice,” said Natalia Vodianova. “I have personal experience of the marathon that is Fashion Week – in New York, London, then Milan and then Paris. So I deeply admire and am doubly grateful to my friend and colleague Karlie Kloss, because today she ran her very first half marathon in support of the Naked Heart Foundation. Goodness requires sacrifice too and I am happy that my friends from the fashion world are sharing this with me, as always. I wonder who will run with us in Moscow for our first very own ‘Running Hearts’ race.”
Every March for six years running, Guerlain and the Naked Heart Foundation have been joining forces to put together a team of 45 runners to run the Paris Half Marathon. The team includes Guerlain and Naked Heart staff and a number of volunteers, who selflessly raise money for the Foundation’s work with children.
This year’s fundraising goal was to create five occupational therapy rooms designed specifically to provide all kinds of active sensory activities for children and adults with special needs and learning disabilities. The rooms will be the very first of their kind in Russia.
There’s still time to make a donation to Natalia or any of the other runners on the team’s official fundraising page.
As of 9th March 2015, the team had raised €168,068.89 in private donations.
