I am running 250 miles, without stopping, across Ohio to raise support for families in need. Please consider a donation to help me help change our community!

Have you ever believed in something, believed in it so much, that you'd do anything for it? That was me, last year, when I ran 262 miles across Ohio over 6 days to raise support for terminally ill children. It was brutal. Far more challenging and painful than I ever imagined. To this day, I am not sure how I even did it, but I did it. We did not raise much and were not able to get much support, but we completed it and we were able to help and inspire people. Now, I have something else I believe in, and I wan't to do the impossible one more time, in fact, I want to make it even more challenging, and I am calling on all of you to help me and join in!

September 4 at 7pm, I will be heading out on a 250 mile run across Ohio, from Cincinnati to Cleveland, without stopping. I will complete the run September 7th at 7pm. Is it possible? Probably not, but I will do it! I'll do it because I believe in the cause, #FitCLE, and together, with your help, we will use this effort to launch an initiative that will first help change Cleveland, one family at a time, and then change cities all over the country. We need your support.

The Deal:

Here is the deal. This is a crowdfunding campaign. You're not donating to a non profit. You're not donating to a big corporation. You're donating to help start an initiative that will start changing our community. You're investing in that dream. And, you're investing in me (as well as the Co-Founder of #FitCLE, Makenna of MacJoFit) as the person to lead this initiative. I will be donating all proceeds (as well as those raised from previous and future campaigns and fundraising efforts) to the startup of #FitCLE and to helping helping families as we build this initiative and begin to take it nationwide. I know that donating to such a cause is not for everyone. I know most people would prefer to donate to an established non profit and get a tax deduction. I'd ask you to consider helping me launch #FitCLE. I am willing to run 250 miles, over 3 days, and put myself through the struggle and pain that will come with that, in order to launch #FitCLE. That is how committed I am. That is how important this is to me. That is my sign to you that I will make this initiative, #FitCLE, a success, and help tons of families, because I will go the extra mile, and I won't give up. I'll fight for #FitCLE and fight ot help change our community. I'd love your support.

How you can get involved:

I've got the first 230 miles, but I invite all of you to join me for the last 20 miles. If you can run 20, great! If you can only run 1 mile, great!. If you can run the last 50 feet with me, great, come join us! Though I am doing something big to draw awareness, this ultimately is not about me. #FitCLE is about the community and I want to invite you all to join me. Who wants to run the last mile with me?

What is #FitCLE? The #FitCLE Story:

The origins of #FitCLE is an interesting story. Makenna of MacJoFit, who was the person driving along side me supporting me every mile of my run across Ohio last year, provides in-home personal training for women in Cleveland, OH, which she loves. I help with her business. While she loves impacting the health of women, she wanted to make a bigger impact and be able to help improve the health of families all over Cleveland, especially the health of children. We know that change starts in the home. Makenna and I put thought into how we can impact the health of families, and through that help change out community. We argue still over who created the idea first, but being that she is undefeated in arguments against me, lets say she came up with the idea for #FitCLE, and then together we developed the concept, a concept and initiative we are both passionate about. We've selected me as the person to lead #FitCLE

The Concept: We are using Health and Fitness as the doorway into the lives of families in need. The core of what we will be doing is taking nominations for families in need of a substantial healthy lifestyle makeover and selecting one family each month to help. We will provide fitness and health training and education. We will provide a home full of healthy food, and seek to meet any other need that we can, be it financial, counseling, house cleaning, landscaping, job placement assistance, and any other need we may be able to meet. Then, we will help others to start the same initiative in their communities. The initiative is not just designed to help one family per month, but also to inspire the community as a whole to live healthier lives.

Why do we (I) need money?

The bottom line is that, in order to help people, it takes money. I'll put every dollar I can behind this, but we will need more than that. Starting an initiative of this size, even with the connections we have, is not cheap. We have costs such as the food we will be donating, equipment needed such as providing bicycles for children, and then the cost of the services provides, such as the nutrition coaching, fitness training, counseling, and other needs we meet. In time, many of these services and costs will be covered by partnering with sponsors, such as a food sponsor. However, in order to get to that point, we need to prove the concept first. We set $50k as the goal because that is what we budget that it will cost to help the first 12 families. That takes us through year one. At that point, we should have sponsors, partners, and grants to provide for ongoing funding, and have a proven concept that we can start in cities all over the country.

*Note: #FitCLE is not a non profit.