Running With A Mission

At the beginning of 2009, we revamped our work mission statement at the firm I work for. One arm of the firm we created was a charitable service committee. We meet once a month and have established multiple projects for the firm to take part in: food drive for the OC Rescue Mission, Buddy Walk for DSAOC, supplying Bibles for James 1:27 Ministries, and a running class with the OC Rescue Mission. We will have our own booth and play games at the Buddy Walk next Sunday. This should be a lot of fun, although contributions were down by 2/3 of last year's amount last I heard. These contributions fund the staff's salaries and are going towards building a pediatric clinic in the OC area. In case you feel so inclined, you can donate here.

Now, tomorrow morning, bright and early, I will be driving to the OC Rescue Mission and meeting up with 2 coworkers, a client of ours, and 18 to 20 "students" of the OC Rescue Mission Village of Hope. The Village of Hope is a one- to two-year program for individuals, families, and single parents who are currently homeless. They go through job training, education, counseling, and work at the VOH. One of the partners at my firm, Steve, thought it would be valuable to basically train 20 or so individuals to run a half-marathon. Tomorrow is our first day of training.

We will be spending four mornings a week for the next fourteen weeks working together as a team to prepare to run the Huntington Beach Half Marathon in February 2010. There are a number of ways we feel this will be so beneficial. First of all, the weekly encouragement of going farther and doing something you have never done before. Secondly, on the day of the race, everyone at the starting line is equal. We all put in the effort to train; we all are there with our shirts, shorts and shoes. There is no indicators of class or status. 15,000 people will be running this race. Finally, there is something for saying "I have run a half-marathon, 13.1 miles. What else can I do?" We are hoping to reinforce discipline and teamwork in each student. The director at VOH - Nathan Bates - said that this is the first time any group of volunteers has ever spent such a concentrated and long time with their students. He is thrilled at the idea of what type of ministry could take place.

So, at 6:20 tomorrow morning we begin. We will be taking video footage and pictures to update everyone along the way. Stay tuned!