Help Rachel raise money

RUN FOR PROMISE

Hello everyone! I hope y’all had a great time with your loved ones this thanksgiving and ate lots of food together.

I’m writing this post to say I’ll be running this month to help raise money for Urban Promise Toronto. Let’s help them meet their goal of $100,000! I’ll be running/walking a total of 42k over the month because I accidentally signed up too late and the only option left was to do a whole marathon. Unfortunately, I have not done cardio and a million years so the distance will be split apart into smoller sections.

What is Urban Promise and What Do They Do?

They are an organization that helps raise children in Toronto community housing for low-income households in a safe and caring place, walking through life with them every step of the way. When the children become youth, they usually come back as leaders to care for the next generation, fueling a continuous cycle that restores the community from within. With their help, the children living in vulnerable areas are protected from gangs, violence, and lack of resources. Urban Promise supports not only the children in the program but their whole families by introducing them to the love and hope of Jesus. With this hope, they have someone constant in their lives which can help break the destructive cycles their families may have been on for a long time. With this in mind, they employ afterschool programs and summer camps to help kids with their homework, give them snacks, and look after them when no one else can. If you want to learn more, check out their website here: https://www.urbanpromise.com/

Reasons for Helping

I found out about Urban Promise at church and was prompted to go on a mission trip there in the summer of 2017 and 2019 to be the extra hands of help to the leaders who were working with the kids all summer. Immediately, I was drawn to how nice the kids were and how welcoming both them and the leaders were even when we just met them on the first day. I noticed how close the leaders were with the kids and how they seemed like a family to each other, caring for each other and discipling them when necessary. On the outside, it just seemed like a fun camp where people grow close and have fun but, on the inside, a lot of them came from broken families. Sometimes the kids and leaders would share a bit of their personal life and I’d be reminded of their situation. It was pretty easy for me to forget that there are so many people locally that need our help since I was in my own bubble of friends, who had been born in stable homes like I was.

Sadly, due to COVID-19, helping them out has changed a lot and I don’t have the opportunity to help them out in person, so I decided to fundraise! Even if I can’t support them from where they are, I hope to be able to help them from afar. Also, as I plus, I get some motivation to do cardio! (Eeew running T-T)

How can you help?

If God has allowed this cause to burden your heart, then consider donating to the fundraiser! If you don’t have any money to spare now, no worries because prayers and spreading the word of this fundraiser would be encouraged as well 😊. Otherwise, I know that there’s so much that seems to be going downhill in this world and that we’re all passionate about different things, so helping out somewhere else you are called to serve will already help lots 😊

Fun Extras

In order to hopefully encourage more donations, I’ll be doing weird things again. This year, you can make me do whatever in front of my garage door (as long as it appropriate)! Be as creative as you wish with your requests :D . I’ll be posting them for your enjoyment when I complete them.

Here are some challenge ideas if you can’t think of any:

- Sing a whole song while you exercise

- Talk to a neighbor while in a handstand

- Speed draw an animal

- Dance to “The Feels” by TWICE

- Model obscure clothes (Pokémon costumes, baby clothes, towels etc.)

To request a challenge, either message me directly or put the challenge in the message box when you go to donate. Remember, every bit counts! Your smol contribution could buy them loads of snacks! (The kids love snacks; I’ve seen 5 of them demolish a huge bag of chips in 30 seconds XD oMnOMnOM)