3 men have embarked on a massive adventure of running from Pretoria to Cape Town in order to raise funds for orphans and vulnerable children… this is running for hope!
Running for Hope is an initiative birthed in the heart of Jason Knoetze almost 6 years to the day. Jason had a vision to run to Cape Town from Pretoria in order to make a difference.
Jason had spent some time at a home called Home of Hope and that soon solidified the fact that the purpose of his Journey would be to run in order to raise funds for this incredible charity.
Home of Hope was founded in August 2005 by Eleanor Brook, who inspired by her faith and having experienced life in a children’s home herself, wanted to harness her experience to provide support for other children in need of care.
The organisation started as an interim ‘place of safety’ for children who were abandoned in dustbins to die, violently abused, raped, hungry and neglected due to poverty, infected with HIV and AIDS and those who were born bearing the effects of excessive drug and alcohol abuse by their mothers during pregnancy.
As the organisation grew and developed, we were able to response to a bigger need – to provide a broader and more effective service for the protection of children – more than just that of interim places of safety.
Home of Hope has evolved into an organisation that takes care of children in a single residence foster home, provides education to children with special needs, look after Children with FASD (Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) and helps them to become productive and responsible members of the community.
And then there were 3
Jason spoke about his trip extensively to a lot of his friends and soon enough was joined by two of his best mates, Yorke Scott and Miguel Thomaz.
The trio had been on adventures before including cycling around the whole of Swazi land with nothing but the clothes on their back and whatever they could fit on their bikes. So needless to say when Jason’s vision with an objective to better the lives of the kids at Home of Hope, Yorke and Miguel couldn’t resist the opportunity to join in on this intrepid Journey.
To date the team has travelled 287km in just 7 days and inspired many along the way by partaking in speaking engagements and using a massive social media drive to try and raise fund for Home of Hope.
Their daily total looks as follows:
- Day 1: 42km
- Day 2: 42km
- Day 3: 44km
- Day 4: 54km
- Day 5: rest day
- Day 6: 53 km
- Day 7: 52km
The team is going strong and striving to make a difference wherever they go. Raising awareness about Home of Hope and spreading the message through the daily grind of running.
It needs to be said that none of these men are professional runners, rather, they are men with hearts of gold looking to better the lives of others.
Visit their Facebook page here to keep track of their progress. Check out their promo below to find out more about their mission and how you can get involved. Also check out which days they will be going through which towns. The gentleman are still looking for accommodation in most town after the 27th of June.
A story of 3 men, who took on a near impossible journey to help better the lives of helpless kids… consider our faith in Humanity restored!
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook & Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens.