Run for a Reason

My friend Leslie and I have decided to run the Houston Chevron marathon together in January. We didn't want to just run it for ourselves, we wanted our efforts to go to a good cause as well. Originally I had been approached to run for St. Jude Children's Hospital but after talking to Leslie she wanted to do a charity that was close to her heart. I thought it would be better for us to work together towards one goal, so we decided Bo's Place was the best option for the both of us.
The goal for each runner is $2000. Beginning this journey I thought, "Well that should be fairly simple to raise." Needless to say, not exactly. It's always difficult asking people for money, especially for a charity most people have never even heard of. The first few weeks we got donations from friends and family which for the most part added up to about $600 for me and about $1100 for her. Our next step was hitting coworkers. For the month of September we brought breakfast for the company kitchen on Friday's with a donation jar for those who felt inclined to give a donation. This brought in about another $300 for each of us, including several donations from some of our bosses and partners.
The third effort was hosting a football square pool for our coworkers where half the money collected would go to the charity and the other half to the winner of the pool. This was a great success because it not only brought in money for Bo's Place but it also was exciting for those who participated because it gave them the chance to make a little extra money as well. The football pool brought in $300 for us to split, which brought my total to about $1300 and her's to $1850ish. We were almost there but running out of ideas and people to bug about donating.
Our last idea was a charity garage sale at my mom's house in Tyler. We began hitting people up for their unwanted junk to donate to the sale. The majority came from my mom's friends and people from her church. I went home this last weekend to get everything together with the hope that there would enough "unwanted junk" to make up for the difference in our goals. Once walking into the garage I quickly realized we had more than enough stuff and just hoped that people would be willing to buy!
The sale was a great success and we raised an addition $1045. Which put our totals over $2100 each along with a few other donations from friends over the weekend.
The journey of fundraising was fun and very fulfilling. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to raise not only money for a great cause but also raise awareness about a fairly unknown charity that could enhance the lives of those that it comes in contact with. I've realized that when you really want to meet a goal, if you put forth the time effort and brain power you can accomplish your goals in no time. Leslie and I are very proud to be supporting such a wonderful charity and hope to make them proud by successfully completing the marathon as well.
I would like to think the hardest part was raising the $2000 but I know I'm just fooling myself. Running 26.2 miles is a huge commitment and hopefully with just as much time and work we can meet that goal as well. Wish us luck!!!
Thanks to all those who supported us, financially and emotionally!!!!