Raising Awareness

So we are 9 months into my year-long run. I can't believe we have made it this far! I'm excited by how many others have involved themselves in R4R. With the help of others we have been able to raise funds and awareness. Seven people have been involved with Run 4 Red Ribbon, and together we have ran over roughly 1,000

miles. Collectively with all Peak 4 Poverty efforts we have been able to put 60+ children through school this year.

My personal fundraising goal was quite large, but I wanted to at least raise $1 for every mile. As you can see, I am far from that goal. Still, I put in my miles week in and week out. I’ve been behind schedule, as well

as ahead of schedule. It’s been a bumpy road, and I still have a few months and about 257 miles to go! It seems so far, but I’ve run close to 750 miles now!

I recently had an online chat wih Nabeel from Peak 4 Poverty. He’s been a big supporter and he reminded me of why I am doing this. It’s important to raise awareness right now. Me running and blogging about these orphans is reminding people that they are out there. Every day these children are out there working hard and fighting for an education so that they can one day provide for themselves and their future families. Nabeel reminded me that we need to raise awareness first and the funds will eventually come.

So far I have done a horrible job of getting awareness out. I haven’t blogged nearly as much as I should have, and I need to be more vocal on facebook and twitter. I need to get the word out. I can run as much as I can, but without the blogging how are people going to even know what I’m doing? I only have a few months left, and in that time I plan on being more active online. I want you to know what I’m doing, and why exactly I’m doing it.

I’m running for these children. I’m running for their education. I’m running for their quality of life.

They need your help.

*I'd like to thank the Peak 4 Poverty team, who traveled to Tanzania this winter to visit the children and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds and awareness for these children for the pictures that I used for this post. I appreciate all of your hard work and support.

Happy Holidays!

The Peak 4 Poverty team is currently in Tanzania volunteering at the orphanages and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise funds and awareness for the orphans these orphans.

Just looking at those beautiful faces makes me want to work harder to help them. I can't do that without you. I beg you to find it in your heart to donate to this cause.
The money we raise through Peak 4 Poverty and Run 4 Red Ribbon goes to providing a better life for these children here in the picture. We help provide food and clothes to make their daily lives better, and provide tuition so that these children can get an education and lead productive lives. We are giving them a chance. A chance to have a full, happy life.
If we don't help them, who will?

The number of children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS is expected to reach 25 million; of that 15.6 million live in Sub Sahara Africa.

These orphans are often subject to discrimination so they often don't receive proper healthcare, education, and other services needed to live a healthy life. These orphans are innocents who have had no say in the position they're in and rely on the help of strangers.
Please find it in your heart to donate any amount you can afford. $5, $10, or anything. You can find a link on the right side of my blog where you can chose which amount to give.


I have 3 more ornaments left if you are interested in them. I have 3 Twilight ornaments left. Get one for a $10 donation or three for a $20 donation.
I also have one more care package left for a $50 donation. I'll send out all kinds of yummy goodies for you to share with your families, friends, and/or co-workers.


I hope you all have a happy holiday with your families and friends, as well as a fun and safe New Year.
Thanks, Jenna

Pride and Prejudice Ornaments

Are you a Jane Austen fan? Do you have a friend or family member who is? Any tree of a Pride and Prejudice fan will not be complete unless they have one or three of these ornaments! Made from the pages of Jane Austen's most celebrated novel, these ornaments are the perfect present for any Jane Austen fan. Donate $10 for 1 ornament or $20 for 3 ornaments. Just donate and then Email me Jenna.Chastain@gmail.com to give me your address and your preference of ornament. Go through the pictures below and let me know which one(s) you would like to receive. Thanks!

I have 2 Red Flowers on Spherical ornaments available:

I have 1 green butterfly on a spherical ornament available:

NO LONGER AVAILABLE

I have 1 round ornament with a silver flower and 3 pearls available:

I have 2 heart ornaments with 1 green flower and 3 pearls available:

I have one heart ornament with a red flower available:
NO LONGER AVAILABLE

I have 3 round ornaments with 2 green flowers available:

I have 3 round ornaments with 2 white flowers available:

I have 1 round ornament with 2 silver flowers available:

I also still have 6 of the Twilight ornaments left, same deal with those, just let me know which you prefer! Thanks =)

Donate and Get Something In Return!

Well, as you can see in my earlier post, if you donate $10 you get 1 Twilight or Pride and Prejudice ornament, if you donate $20 you will get 3 ornaments.

If you donate $50 I will send a few batches of homemade cookies (or another baked good.) I am quite the baker. I make really cute sugar cookies in all different shapes with homemade royal frosting decorations. I also make a mean oatmeal M&M cookie. I'm only doing this for the first two donors that donate at least $50. I can send them out right after you make the donation or I can send them out right before the holiday so you can serve them at a party! Just make the donation and email me your mailing address and when you would like the cookies by!

Thanks,
Jenna

Dear Twilight Lovers,

I make these adorable ornaments out of book pages, and I am currently making Twilight ones! If you make a $10 donation and I will send you one! If you donate $20 I will send you THREE ornaments!

If you are a Twilight fan your Christmas tree will not be complete unless you have at least one of these on it, and if you're not a Twilight fan, but know someone who is, then these will make excellent gifts! You can get your Christmas shopping done and help out AIDS orphans at the same time!

I can put a green flower with a pearl center if you don't like the red one, but I think the red goes great with the Twilight theme. I can also do heart shaped ornaments or flat, round ones as well. If you're not a fan of Twilight or you know someone who is a Jane Austen fan I also have Pride and Prejudice ornaments! Just let me know if you'd like something different than the one pictured.

Just make your donation and Email your mailing address to Jenna.Chastain@gmail.com

Thanks, Jenna

400 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!

I reached 400 miles the other day! I started running June 1st and have reached a big milestone! I'm SO close to the halfway point! So. So. Close. I can almost taste it. I've been keeping on track with my running as best as I can, but as you can see the donations amount isn't up to par. I'm no where near my goal. Well, it's not really MY goal. It's these kids' goal. They are the ones that need to clothes, food, medical supplies, and education. They need all of this, and they don't have parents to help them. They rely on the kindness of strangers like you to provide basic essentials.

Every human being in the world has the right to an education. The right to learn. That is what I'm trying to accomplish. Who else is going to help these kids if you don't? Please, please find it in your hearts to donate $10 to my cause. If you head over to my other blog you can find a place to donate. It would mean the WORLD to me, and it would mean even more to these children. Show them there is some good in this world.

Thank you.

Post From My Personal Blog

The first part of this post is a little repetitive from past posts, but I was trying to inform new followers about my journey with Run 4 Red Ribbon, so please bear with me and read through this post. Thanks =)

Starting on June 1, 2010 I began a 1,004 mile journey to be completed on June 1, 2011 in order to raise awareness to a charity that means a lot to me. In the beginning of the year I was randomly contacted via Twitter by Peak 4 Poverty. Just a random tweet, I honestly don't even remember what that was about. I just saw that this person was talking to me and went to their blog to check out what they were all about.

Peak 4 Poverty goes to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the world's largest free standing mountain. They do this to raise money and bring awareness to the growing number of AIDS orphans in Tanzania, the 3rd poorest country in the nation.

I cannot afford to go on the trip to Tanzania, but I was trying to find a way to help. First I bought about 10 of the red bracelets that P4P sells for $4. I still wanted to do more. So I contacted Nabeel, who was the first person to contact me via twitter and I relayed an idea that I had for him. I would run 1,000 miles in one year and blog about it to raise awareness and money for the charity. He was really excited about the idea and within a month The R4R Project was born. The P4P team created Run 4 Red Ribbon so that anyone interested could run, bike, swim as many miles as they want in whatever time period all to get people's attention and hopefully get them to donate to these children.

What drew me to P4P was that they not only strive to feed and clothe these children, bettering their day to day lives, but they also improve their quality of life by providing an education so that when they grow up and out of the orphanages they have skills and are able to uphold a job to take care of themselves and a future family as well.

"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for life."

I believe Peak 4 Poverty lives true to this proverb. They are giving these children an education so that they will be able to live a full adult life.

There is also a "pay it forward" aspect to P4P. The children a tought about helping others and see how much their lives are changed because of the generosity of others. In turn, once they get their education, learn a trade, and get a job they are able to turn around and help the orphanages that raised them. So by you donating to the cause and giving hope to the children, you are giving hope to many future generations of AIDS orphans. The kindness you show in donating $10, $20, $50 will not only improve the quality of life of AIDS orphans living in Africa now, you are paving the way to end poverty for future generations in one of the poorest nations in the world.

Please help me in the fight to stomp out poverty one mile and one child at a time! Head to my other blog to donate and begin the process to change a child's life for the better.

Thank you,

Jenna