Towards the end of the school year and heading into summer, I was deeply missing running with my teammates and running in races representing Durham Academy. However, I also knew that I was blessed as summer approached. While many families in our community are struggling with nutritional needs heading into summer, I do not have that same issue to worry about. For that, I consider myself very lucky. In the midst of a pandemic, organizations like food banks are especially needed. During a volunteer session at the Durham Food Bank a few weeks ago, I learned that there are 39% more people with nutritional needs in our community alone during the Covid-19 crisis. So, if I didn’t have competitions to run for, I wanted to switch my mindset with running. For the time being, I decided I didn’t want to run to win. I wanted to win to help others, which is how I came up with the idea of running a half marathon in order to fundraise for the Durham food bank. 

Hearing the news recently has been heartbreaking and scary for many communities, including ours. Reflecting on why I wanted to fundraise, it didn't feel right to solely focus my fundraising on the food bank. While the food bank does tremendous work, I also wanted to find a way to fundraise for social justice organizations that are tackling issues like police brutality today. So, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to find a balance between helping the Durham Food Bank as well as supporting social justice organizations. 

I will run a half marathon on July 4^th. I wanted to use this “race” as an opportunity to raise money. Even though I cannot run to compete at the moment, I want to run this distance to raise money and awareness. By July 5^th, I will see how much money was raised for the food bank through my virtual food drive. Then, my family will personally donate 10% (up to $1,000) of the total amount of money collected through the food drive to ColorofChange.org so that donor's contributions can help a variety of organizations. 

Thank you so much for your support!