Cargills Food City provides refreshments for Beefy’s Big Walk across Sri Lanka

Friday, 8 November 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cargills Food City, Sri Lanka’s leading supermarket chain is the ‘Official Refreshment Partner’ of former England Cricket Captain, Sir Ian Botham’s charity walk in Sri Lanka. The daily walk route commences or ends daily at a Cargills Food City ensuring a consistent supply of fresh food and beverages to the resolute walkers who cover more than 25 kilometres a day.

Titled ‘Beefy’s Big Walk’ the eight-day walk that started on 1 November in Kilinochchi is set to end at Seenigama and is expected to raise substantial funds for projects associated with the Laureus Sports Foundation for Goodness including the construction of a sports facility in northern Sri Lanka. Cargills Foods Company Chief Executive Officer Sidath Kodikara said the reach of the walk touching different regions of Sri Lanka is inspiring and the cause is aligned with its own philosophy of inspiring youth through sports. “Sport has the amazing capacity to touch people from various backgrounds and cricket specifically has brought our country together in the most challenging times. “Sports like food brings people together and we are proud to be the on-the-go refreshment providers to the walkers across the eight days of this 160 mile walk across Sri Lanka.”

Cargills Foods Company Deputy General Manager Marketing Sanjeewa Fernando noted that Cargills Food City has been synonymous with youth empowerment and this has been further harnessed through its recent associations with sports. “Through our various links with sports, be it football, rugby etc, we are striving to extract the full potential of young people across different parts of the island just as we have done through our Cargills Food City team, comprising young men and women from every district of Sri Lanka; 80% of them below the age of 25,” he said. Cargills Food City provides a range of fresh food and drinks to walkers on the go including Kist mountain water, fresh fruit, Kist juices, Kotmale yoghurt, Kotmale Chox as well as fresh ingredients for snacks with a mobile unit travelling with the walkers daily to dispense refreshments. The Cargills Food City team also joins the walk as volunteers as it navigates its way across the different cities of the islands. The star-studded walk features cricket heroes such as Shane Warne, Michael Vaughan, Sourav Ganguly, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena.