Superheroes are rising up everywhere to help orphans and little children in Africa! Volunteers came from churches around Atlanta to help little children in Africa with desperately needed Early Childhood Development! Over 700 volunteers met at Georgia Tech to run and walk 5k to raise awareness and raise funds for the children of Africa. Robert Carrillo, the CEO of HOPE worldwide, and Russ Hargrove, the Director of Development of HOPE worldwide, attended the event and were thrilled by the support and enthusiasm of all the volunteers and visitors who participated. We raised $57,762 to date and donations will continue until the end of the year.
We want to especially thank John Mark Mines, who coordinated the event at Ga Tech, Melanie Cicerchia, who managed the communication efforts, and Leslie Karamitas, who developed the media and marketing materials. They worked with Michelle Wright, Kameko Langston, Gino Johnson, Sharal Ozim, Brion Ozim, Liz Yarnall, and Dennis Pickens, who worked tirelessly on these efforts. Special thanks to Chris Grubb who shot the video and Wendy Oshi and the all the photographers who helped. Jill Huentelman helped with the graphic design and Jermaine Donaldson did the t-shirt designs. Meagan Shantz secured donations for the runner bags and stuffed those bags.
Tom Brown, Jeff Hickman, and all the staff and members of the North River Church of Christ did a tremendous job in mobilizing volunteers, friends, and neighbors to help our efforts. Thanks so much for all your help. Tommy Redmond and his team at Octane Solutions managed the website-based promotion and Jon Collins and Mike Sadoff provided a lot of the fruit and snacks. Brian Sires and Tony Karamitas helped with warm-up and entertainment. Keith Mangrum and his team organized the great Golf Classic at the Reunion Golf Course.
It takes a village to raise a child. Sorry to anyone that I forgot. Thank you for all your love for the children we serve and all your efforts to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves”.