I have several friends who use running and racing to help raise money and awareness for charity. With all the things I have done and still have planned, it only makes sense to get in on the action. I've been meaning to for awhile but as a lot of you know, things have been a bit hectic in my life. I have also had more trouble than you can imagine getting things set up for a few different charities. No excuses though and I am now on top of it. I have it set up to raise money using my next major race which is Epicman on Dec 29th.
Like I said I looked at a few different charities but I decided I needed something that really spoke to me and therefore would drive me to make a strong effort towards raising money. Well I really didn't need to look farther than a very good friend and former partner of mine from the old days, Pat Apoian. He is the founder and president of an organization called Humble Heroes.
The Mission
Humble Heroes Mission Statement:
Humble Heroes is a 501c(3) charity committed to standing behind the men and women in public safety. The purpose of Humble Heroes shall be to assist Police Officers, Firefighters, and their families by providing financial and moral support to those who have been seriously injured or fallen ill, while building solid relationships between public service and the communities they serve.
The Race and Rules
I wanted to make this a bit more interesting than "I'm running a race so please donate money". Not that I have anything against anyone who does that and I think it is great but if you know me, you know I love a challenge. So here's the deal. Epicman is a triple Ironman distance race with all three disciplines ran consecutive and the clock doesn't stop until you cross the finish. So it will be a 7.2 mile swim, a 336 mile bike and a 78.6 mile run for a total of 421.8 miles. It begins at 7am on Dec 29th and the race cut off is 60 hours later at 7pm on Dec 31st. My idea is to accept pledges for every hour that I beat the cutoff time by. So the faster I am, the more money I raise. Similar to when you were in forth grade and you went around your neighborhood and had neighbors pledge money for you to walk around a 1/4 track as many times as you could. I actually bailed on this when I was in forth grade because I was fat and lazy back then. Yea yea, I know I went from one extreme to the other. So for example if you pledge $2 per hour and I finish the race in 50 hours, then you give $20 to the charity. Pretty simple. And to keep it as simple as possible, anything 29 minutes and under gets rounded down and anything 30 minutes and over gets rounded up. So the same $2 pledge with a finish of 50:29 still gets $20 where as a finish of 50:30 is only $18. Still simple right? For all my police buddies out there, just roll with it and Ill tell you what you owe after the race is over. I will keep a running sheet of all pledges sent to me via my email at jasonoverbaugh@yahoo.com. I also plan on updating, without using names of course, what the largest current pledge is. I will allow pledges to be raised if people decide their buddy pledged more than they did or if the largest current pledge brings out the competitive side in you and you want to try to keep up.
My Spiel
People are always telling me they don't think police officers and fire fighters are paid enough for what we do so here is your chance to help out. Police work extra jobs at clubs, churches, traffic intersections, construction sites, etc. etc. just to make ends meet. Fire fighters work their off days as EMT or Paramedics to make extra money. When they are seriously injured, on duty or off, they lose the ability to work these extra jobs and the whole family suffers, especially their children. So for all the police officers and fire fighters out there reading this, think of that extra job you're working tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, whatever, and pledge some of the money you make for this cause. And to those who are not, remember that you will be helping the same people who would run into a burning building to save your life, chase down an armed suspect to save your property, stand in harms way so that you don't have to and risk their lives for yours without question and without even knowing who you are. I think that deserves a little something, don't you? This is a 501c(3) charity and is fully tax deductible. I will send everyone who donates the proper tax information. And please share this on your Facebook, Twitter or even email to all your friends and family. Every little bit counts. So let the pledging begin!
