the RFO Blog - August 29, 2010

It’s been too long since I last spent a few minutes writing up a blog for the Runners Feeding Others website, but that’s certainly been all because of how busy I’ve been and not because of a lack of things going on with our organization.

I am happy to report that we continue to grow at a fast and furious place and am humbled at what we have accomplished in less than a year and half since we were founded in May of 2009.  The benefit concert (our first) that was held at Musica on Friday, July 30th was absolutely outstanding!  I can’t say thank you enough to the bands that played for us (Off The Record and DiveBand), the people that attended, and the organizations/companies that offered raffle items.  Also, the staff at Musica was great as well – what a great venue!  In the end, we were able to raise over $1,000 for the meal programs and food pantry of First Grace in Akron.

While the number of members of RFO and our planned activities have increased this year, sadly so has the number of people counting on the services of First Grace.  However, I hope that we are positioning ourselves right and getting our name out there to enough people to help us take on this increased need.  In July, First Grace served over 3,600 meals to local men, women, and children which is a very large increase from even a few months prior.  This is why we must continue working hard in this fight and continuing to raise awareness and money/food to help our neighbors.

What’s the best way to help right now?  This is a big month for us.  As I’m sure most know, we are an official charity partner of the Road Runner Akron Marathon, Half Marathon, and Team Relays on Saturday, September 25th so we have a lot to do in the next couple of weeks.  As of right now, RFO is the LARGEST charity partner in terms of the number of registered runners!  If you haven’t registered yet and are interested, please use coupon code rfo-2010 when you register to join our team.  If you don’t plan on racing, we certainly could use your help as a volunteer on either Friday or Saturday.  Please email steve@runnersfeedingothers.com for details.

Finally, I’ll close with an announcement about a major food drive that we will be sponsoring in front of the John S. Knight Center on Friday, September 24th from 11am until 9pm in conjunction with the University of Akron Health & Fitness Expo.  Please come on out and drop off your non-perishable food items or donations and help us FILL THE BUS in our fight against hunger in the Akron area.

Thanks for the support everyone.  Take care.

Steve