Operation 100

Jono and I have been pondering new ways to get people excited about donating to the Run To Uganda (RTU) fundraiser. About a month ago I came up with idea that I thought might bring in more donations but it all hinged on getting my nagging foot pain healed up in time to put in some serious training mileage. After a decent week with only minor pain I have decided that “operation 100” is officially a go.

What is Operation 100 you ask? Well, after finding out that my wife and I were going to be having our first child in September I began to think that my long term goal of running a 100 mile race would either have to be scrapped all together or put off for a very long time. For a few months I have planned on running the Prairie Spirit Trail 50 miler on March 23^rd and using it as a good training run for the more difficult and technical Flatrock 101K a month later. But with fundraising in mind we began to think that maybe I should just go ahead and bump up to the 100 miler at Prairie Spirit. Jono could crew for me and pace me the last 30 or so miles and we would run it for the Orphans of Calo Me Lare.

I have imagined that this may possibly be the most difficult thing I will have ever done but every time those thoughts enter my mind I think of the children that Project Hope Worldwide has rescued. Some of these children have had to live in IDP camps after their villages were burned down by the LRA. Most have lost one or both parents to the senseless violence that tore through Uganda. Others have lost parents and siblings to starvation, AIDS, malnutrition, malaria and other horrible misfortunes. As I have contemplated all that these precious, innocent children have been through I realize that no matter how much pain I may have to deal with during the race, I will still never know the pain they have suffered.

So on March 23^rd at 6:00 AM I will set out on a journey to run 100 miles. We are asking you to please consider sponsoring this effort. You could either sponsor me per mile or whatever specific amount is laid on your heart. And to help out, every dollar that you donate will be matched up to $1,000 by me and my wife Casey. This is on top of what we were originally planning to give to the RTU fundraiser this year. I am also in the process of securing at least one other matching partner and if it all works out every dollar that you donate or help us raise will translate into at least three dollars!

We are asking you to please help us spread the word about this project. There are two ways you can donate. (1) There is a blue DONATE NOW button to the right. These donations are processed through Razoo which helps us track all donations easily. The money is sent straight to Project Hope Worldwide and dedicated to the RTU fundraising project. (2) You can also donate on the RTU page on Project Hope Worldwide’s website. It can be found under the GET INVOLVED tab or you can use this link: http://projecthopeworldwide.org/index.cfm?id=61 . If you would like to send a check to Project Hope Worldwide directly please make sure to include Run To Uganda in the memo line.

One last important reminder; All the funds, minus the normal credit card transaction fee, go straight to funding the building of the new school. All carrying costs for RTU have been covered in advance and Project Hope Worldwide has a donor who pays all their admin costs! You can feel good that almost 100% of your money goes directly to building the new school.

Thanks for all your help,

Paul