Written/edited by Paula Hemphill Last year our team rallied around Team World Vision and we saw one of the biggest fund-raising and sponsorship campaigns ever to take place on a single day! The buzz around the Global 6k for Water was hard to ignore and it was so great to watch so many friends have such amazing events in their communities! I got the chance to chat with a few of our friends after their events and I'm sharing their stories with you today! Javy Diaz had a pretty amazing response to his event. When I asked him what his favorite moment was he said, "Favorite moment would be probably have to be when we crushed our $1,000 goal in under 24 hours and then with one week to go, raised it to $2,000 and hit it a couple of days before race ended day." Mel Miller hosted an event in Washington state! "My favorite moment was seeing everyone show up who signed up! It was incredible to have such a great group of people gather together for one cause. The energy and excitement of the day ran through everyone! Then of course cheering everyone on as they returned was super sweet too!" She saw God's hand at work throughout the event. She says, "...my favorite God-story of the day was with a mom named Tracey. Her teenage son had wanted to do the 6k and so she signed up with him. When they showed up in the morning she brought me the two kids picture folders that correlated with their race bibs saying they weren’t going to sponsor. She seemed rather firm about it. However, when she returned, she walked straight up to me and said she saw the story boards of the little girl who was sponsored while on their walk and she knew God was telling her she needed to sponsor. So she not only sponsored one child, but both of the children her and her son walked for!" Dana Hadigian and her daughter, Emily, hosted an event at Emily's school. They had many great moments, but Dana shares a favorite below: "Officer Doug Oates, my daughter's School Resource Officer (a police officer assigned to protect the students) emerging from the woods and coming onto the track RUNNING with a 5-gallon bucket of water in his arms. He ran 6K (the last half w/ 44 pounds of water) in less than 35 minutes. It made me proud of our law enforcement, my daughter's school, and World Vision (in helping bring awareness of the clean water crisis/effort). I was thankful he had paid $50 to run so that a little girl in African or Haiti would no longer have that burden." I have attached one of my favorite pics- Emily, David (my husband), and Rob Hovermale (the 57 year old principal of Emily's school who ran the event in 22 minutes, beating all his students!). :-) He is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and he really helped make this event happen for us. Celeste and Stu didn't hesitate when I asked them their favorite moment of the event: "Gathering for prayer. Before we began our walk/run, every person circled up and prayed for the child on their bib... Also, some on our team really learned what it was like to walk in their shoes. One of our littler ones, who virtually walked with her family in North Carolina, got physically sick on her walk, but yet she pursued. Her parents are former youth leaders who participated with us in the 30 Hour Famines, and used it as a great teaching moment to identify with her child that she wore on her bib. What a great life lesson for this 3rd grader!" Courtney Crowder in New Hampshire says, "Not gonna lie, the best moment was when it was all over. I had not anticipated ever leading a type of event like a 6K with that potential of scale and so much on the line to raise money and awareness and get kids sponsored. So I did what anyone does who feels stressed and out of their league: I procrastinated and hoped folks wouldn't come. There was a lot going on that spring and hosting something I've never done was overwhelming. And of course the big fear: Running. But I was persuaded by the huge opportunity to share sponsorship to a new group of people and fulfill my commitment to CA Day. And of course the biggest cheerleader. Megan. Team World Vision was encouraging and full of support! So it was great in hindsight to be able to step out of my comfort zone, reach people I don't normally reach, and complete something for which I really didn't have time or energy. I was able to do this with two of my daughters who have been pivotal in my starting as a CA. Molly was able to complete her confirmation service project by raising $400 herself and providing clean water for 8 kids! Seeing her struggle with that water-- jogging up and down hills-- was a powerful experience for all of us. It was amazing watching mothers and daughters walk together and help each other carry the heavy water jugs. I was energized meeting new people and sharing my love for World Vision and educating about clean water. I wish I could say every pair sponsored a child on their bib, but the truth is not one child was sponsored. So my God moment is having faith in the seeds that were planted that day! I learned a ton on the practical things and can't wait for next year! I will cherish all the memories of the moments leading up to and during this event! Karen Trumbo shares, "my favorite moment was actually about a week and a half after the event. My friend and co-worker informed me that her husband had sponsored the child on his bib. Although I had over 70 people at the 6K event, I only had one person sponsor the day of the race and she works for World Vision. So, finding out this child was sponsored later on brought me to tears. You see, my history as a Child Ambassador has not been so fruitful. When I signed on to be a CA, I wanted it to be easy and I thought it would be. I mean who wouldn't want to help children? But, as you all know, being a CA is not easy. It is hard. And following Jesus in this world is hard. There were times that after rejection after rejection, I was just frozen with fear of doing anything as a CA. Then time would pass, I would gain some courage and try again. Preparing for the 6K, I came across a quote from Michael Chitwood, from Team World Vision: "I wanted God to make it easy. Instead, He gave me the ability to endure." And that so perfectly sums up my experience as a CA. I wanted it to be easy. But it's not and I'm still here. He has taught me to endure, to not give up, to shake off the rejection (still hard for me) and never stop speaking for these kids. And that sponsorship showed me that. The 2 weeks leading up to the 6K was when Ephesians 3:20 really came alive for me: Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power at work within us. I started recruiting back in February and set an initial goal of raising $1000, honestly not truly believing it was possible. Then I felt compelled to raise the goal to $2500, now really a number I thought was so far out of my reach. My church declined to partner with me in the 6K so I just didn't see how it would be possible. Who would I recruit? Two weeks before, my team reached that "impossible" goal of $2500 and I felt God nudging me again. Double your goal, Karen. So, I doubled it to $5000 and watched our fundraising climb towards this number that was truly more than I could imagine. The morning of the race, as I was setting up, I went to check my phone to see if anyone was trying to reach me. I had a notification that I had gotten a donation. That donation put me right at $5000 which translates to 120 kids between our donations and registrations. God showed me that He will be faithful. He will provide and I just need to keep being obedient when He calls me to something. And it's important for people planning a 6k to know that sponsorships may not be immediate (at the 6k event itself) but it was an incredible way for me to introduce lots of people to what World Vision does. I actually felt disappointment the day after the 6k because of lack of sponsorships, but friends have reached out to sponsor afterwards. Again, I'm learning it's about taking a step of obedience and God takes care of the rest." Linda Stombaugh hosted an event in her neighborhood in Wisconsin. "My favorite moment was the 5 minutes before the race started where I was able to share about child sponsorship and thank everyone for coming and celebrating with them that 114 children would now have lasting clean water because of this 6k due to the Clean Water Warriors!!!! We had an official countdown from 10 to 1 and everyone was chanting along with cowbells clanging and the huge official raceclock started. It was EXCITING!!!!!! I started out with a goal of having 20 people participating in the 6k but as time went on I kept increasing my goals. I prayed for 50 people to sign up to participate in the 6k. On May 5th, the 50th person signed up. I stopped and smiled and said "thank you Jesus"!! This was a wonderful event!!!! I can't wait for next year!" Interested in signing up to host your own Global 6K for Water?Don't miss out this year! Sign up to host a Global 6K and change lives through clean water while enjoying time with family and friends in your community!
Click the following link for more information on how to host: Global 6K for Water website Register for a webinar and learn more! Are you ready to sign up? Click HERE! All host site leaders can register for free this year! Use the promocode "hostsiteleader" at checkout! Comments are closed.
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