Seven More Days: Merit Academy

Beautiful morning for a race.

This past Friday I had the wonderful chance to share a bit about Bridge of Love and what I'm doing soon. I really enjoy doing this kind of thing and helping out. It reminded me of the time I got to help out at the 5K race, Dracula's Dash for Hope, this past October. It was a cold but beautiful morning and lots of people showed up for the race in their costumes.

Helping out with the booth at Dracula's Dash for Hope
I've got my hippie costume on.

Merit Academy, a school in Springville, had a school fair.They called it Around the World With Dr. Who. There were special dishes made, and activities like Fat Suit Sumo Wresting. Each room had something fun going on. The room I was in was Mrs. Moody's. She had three booths going on. One was helping schools in Africa by making lightsabers out of pool noodles. Another booth was making bracelets. The money for the bracelets went to helping the activities at Merit. Then there was the Bridge of Love booth. I was there with my all my gear talking to people about all the good Bridge of Love is doing. We were playing off of the Dracula/Transylvania idea by selling little candy necklaces with vampire teeth. We had the slogan "Let's take a bite out of poverty!"

I had a lot of fun talking to people about the trip and Bridge of Love. I had a lot of fun finding fellow longboarders and talking to them about boarding.  It was also funny to see people's reactions to the trip. Shocked, excited, dubious, worried, and some who thought it sounded awesome. After a while the room got pretty busy and so I was "domesticated" or taught how to make the bracelets and I helped out with those as well. Jamie now has a nice braided bracelet, my practice one. It was  pretty hard to do, but they look nice.

It was a great opportunity and I had a lot of fun. Merit seems like a great school to have these fun activities.

The bracelet making station. You just know that
she is telling a good teenage girl story.

Me learning how to make the bracelets

The booth. There is my vampire teeth candy necklace. We had a lot of fun.

Bridge Of Love: Doing Good

Jeff and I when we met in Romania.

This past week my friend Jeff and I got to go up to a Bridge of Love planning meeting where we discussed upcoming events and projects. Jeff has some helpful ideas and loves to help them out. He is minoring in non-profit organization, and I got to go report on the Longboard for Love endeavor. We both lived in Romania and so are very happy to be helping out the wonderful land we love.

It was a wonderful thing to see such great people come together and talk about how to help these children. Bridge of Love is hoping to expand to help more children, and hopefully move beyond just the abandoned children and work against the rampant problem human, especially children, trafficking.

Laurie Lundberg shared a story about a conversation she had with a boy in Romania. She asked him, whenever he got sick, did he have someone to comfort him. When he had a fever was anyone there to help him. He said no, nobody ever did that, helping kids in the orphanage is a job. The employees aren't raising their own kids, they are just giving our the bare necessities. It was a sad a touching story when I thought about how lucky I was to have someone, my mom, there to help me when I was sick.

We then talked about the recent developments for Bridge of Love. There is the upcoming golf tournament, the Scramble for Hope. As well as the Home Machine Quilting Show in Salt Lake. This one is exciting. My future mother in law is making a quilt for Jamie and I and we recently helped her pick out the fabric for it. Its been fun to see how cool quilting actually is, and its super hard too! I'm excited for the quilting show. Too bad I'll be in California on the longboard trip or else I would go to the show.

Also there will be another 5k race, Draculas Dash for Hope. I went to the last one in October and it was a lot of fun and a great way to help other people and get some great exercise. Bridge of Love is also preparing for this years summer camp. Where volunteers fly to Romania and host a camp for the kids. I got to visit at the camp a few years ago right before I left Romania. My family flew over with some supplies and we gave them out and played with the kids.

They just revamped their website and Facebook page too. Make sure to take a look and share them, they look awesome.

I'm happy and excited about all the great things going on with Bridge of Love. It is so good to see people doing a great thing. Last thing, don't forget the donation button to the right or you can make a donation through Paypal here. This is how Bridge of Love is able to operate and help. From the kindness and help other people offer. And any bit helps. Thanks so much.

Dracula's Dash for Hope 2012

Recently Bridge of Love had their annual 5K fundraiser race, Dracula's Dash For Hope. I know its been a while since it happened but I wanted to talk about it.

I went to the race this year only as a volunteer. I really regret not having run the race. I woke up at about 6:00 am, put on my hippie costume and drove down to the race with other volunteers and race participants  We arrived in the dark of the morning and helped set everything up. There were people running around everywhere, marking the course, hanging signs, setting up speakers. I wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but the coordinators had it all under control, and everything came together very nicely.

The kids lining up for their race. I think that the Captain Hook kid
had the coolest costume.

I helped set up and then I was in charge of running the information booth. I lingered near the set up of pictures and pounced on people answering their questions and giving information. I had a lot of fun.

It was nice to see some friends of mine there. I was surprised to see the Lundbergs who were supposed to be out of the country, however, due to a passport problem, they had to stay. I'm not going to lie, I was happy they were there.

The children's race started. Kids all lined up in their really adorable costumes. The gun was fired and they were off. The race was only half a mile but some of those kids were intense and really racing hard. Parents ran alongside and a man in Dracula garb walked the course to make sure no one got lost.

Soon after the 5K race started. Everyone lined up and I was reminded of my high school cross country days. That sinking nervous feeling you get as you stand on the line waiting for the race to start. The gun went off, and the race began.

To be fair, the course was pretty tricky. Wet grass and quite a few hills. There was a lot of competition and it was a lot of fun to watch. Since I was silly and didn't run I had some free time, which I took advantage of by taking a moment to talk to Chad Hymas. Chad Hymas is a motivational speaker and author. I read his book a few months before the race and was delighted to see him there. I had been forewarned about his presence and so I brought my copy of his book, and, like a silly little fan, nervously asked him to sign it for me. Which he was kind enough to do.

I took some pictures, which I've put into the blog. There was a nicer camera and photographer documenting the event, and as soon as I get access to the good photos of the event I'll be sure to post them or put a link so you can see the fun and festivities.

The race ended and prizes were given out. Chad Hymas was at the microphone for all of this. All in all, I had a really great experience, and I'm sure many more did as well.

A successful fundraiser! Which really helped to raise money to support the Romanian orphans. It really...it really makes me so happy to see so many people coming together to help out in the world. People just looking to do something kind for someone who needs it. What a wonderful wonderful thing it is to serve another person.

Don't Forget!

Don't forget about the Bridge of Love's fundraising 5K, Dracula's Dash for Hope. It's coming up this October 13. You can register here for the event. Its a really fun race and a great family friendly event. This helps to raise money to help the to assist abandoned children, teens and young adults in Romania. This is the organization I am doing my longboarding trip for on April 29th. They are wonderful people who are doing a wonderful thing, and it is wonderful that they have these events so we can help out.

The kids race will begin at 8:30 am. There will be refreshments, medals and prizes. Costumes are encouraged but not required. The 5k is $25 through Oct. 1st or $35 after. The kids race is $10. Come and have some fun, get a workout, and do something great for children who need our help. 

Kids race and a larger 5K

Fun activities