By Greg Halbleib
A local child and family services agency will benefit from this fall’s We Care Twin Cities races.
The Baby Fold will be the primary recipient of proceeds from the September event according to race director Dan Anderson. He says a primary goal of the races is to benefit the community in some way, but the event has some unique features with a spiritual angle.
“Each mile marker has a prayer focus,” said Anderson. “If a runner would like to end their running just praying about aspects of our community, there’s a focus on each one of those mile markers. One mile might say kids, or teachers.”
Anderson says the runners get a positive impact during the races with something called “Barnabas runners”.
“Barnabas was a great encourager in the Bible,” said Anderson. “If you’re flagging or if you just need someone to run with you for a little bit, we have people who will run alongside you and talk to you and encourage you. They will actually help you finish.”
Anderson says while most proceeds go to The Baby Fold, other non-profits are invited to raise funds by providing help during the race.
“If some non-profit wants to give us volunteers on race day and then put a runner in, we allow any donations that people put in for that runner to go straight to that organization,” said Anderson. “We have about 15 other organizations that have used this in the past to raise money in addition to our main beneficiary, which this year is The Baby Fold.”
The races on September 23rd and 24th feature a kids run, a 5K, a 10K and a half-marathon. More information is at wecaretwincitiesmarathon.org.
