Today I wanted to tell you guys about what we did after the #rnrtweetup.
Have you ever wondered exactly where your money goes when you sign up for a race?
Have you ever questioned whether or not your money goes to the charity?
Do you even think about the charity that the race is supporting?
I have always in the back of my head wondered about how the race money supports the charity. Well being a Rock n Blogger, we got the chance to go see exactly where some of the money you guys paid to run the Rock n Roll New Orleans Marathon went. This year they partnered up with the Feed the Children organization.
What is Feed the Children?
We know it takes the power of many to end childhood hunger for good. We connect donors, experts, partners, leaders and communities to attack the problem from all angles.
We are taking a stand and we will not rest until every child has enough to eat. Source
We were lucky enough to be invited to volunteer for the Feed The Children charity function going on in New Orleans on Saturday, so after the super fun #rnrtweetup, we loaded up in cars and headed over to The Apex Youth Center with the awesome @runrocknroll crew...
We were not exactly sure what we would be doing while we were there so it was fun when we pulled up to see a line of families waiting to be helped by Feed The Children. I knew right then we would be able to interact with families we were all helping.
(George and Bobby thought I was taking their photo naturally, but I was actually taking it of the line behind them. shhhhhhhh! Don't tell them :)
When we walked into The Apex Youth Center we were greeted by the organizer and sent outside to help with the food/toiletry give away. We were able to walk through and see all of the wonderful things they were offering these families. There were free health screenings, local health information, hotdogs, drinks, playtime for the kids, and even a barber shop set up for haircuts.
Once we were outside they had a volunteer meeting and kind of told us what we would be doing. They had preregistered over 400 families for pick up that day.
They would be signing in and then coming out to get their boxes of goodies. One of the boxes had toiletry items, one had food items, and one had health essentials. Also they would be given 2 bags of fruit from Whole Foods and a pint of milk from us...
Gina, myself, Heather, Melanie, and George
As we were getting ready to start serving families, we noticed a familiar face getting ready to hand out boxes...
Yep, that's Thomas Morstead, punter for the New Orleans Saints football team. Loved seeing him out there helping out Feed The Children and these families.
My new BFF's, blog readers Charlotte and Leah came with us from the #rnrtweetup to change lives. LOVE THESE LADIES!!!
My BFF Melanie came and helped pass out milk with Gina, Bobby (Heathers husband), and myself. She is such an amazing person and I know that she was super excited about helping out Feed The Children.
So I hope this gave you some insite to where your money went when you signed up for the Rock n Roll New Orleans Marathon, half, or 10k. It was nice to actually see the hard work and money put in to this event. And most of all the smiling faces of the families it helped. (I didn't post any pictures of the families to respect their privacy, however I promise their were some very appreciative families).
If you would like to help out the Feed The Children organization, you can go to their website at www.feedthechildren.org. You can make a donation to help feed these families, sponsor a child, or even find out more info on how you could help by volunteering at an even near you.
You can also find Feed The Children on the following social media outlets...
I am so excited about tomorrows post, I'm going to tell you all about the very first inaugural Rock n Roll New Orleans 10k. Trust me your gonna love it, stay tuned...
Until then...
Have you ever helped a charity you ran for?
Does it make you feel better actually seeing what your money goes to?
