The Fargo Half Marathon is a little over a month away and besides finishing it under my time goal, I have another big goal I’m working on:

Raising $500 for Operation Christmas Child running

as part of Team Samaritan’s Purse!

Samaritan’s Purse is an international relief organization with this amazing mission:

After sharing the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said “Go and do likewise.” That is the mission of Samaritan’s Purse—to follow the example of Christ by helping those in need and proclaiming the hope of the Gospel.

We have been big fans of Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, for several years now. I even wore a shoebox for them {yes, there is a picture!}.

The boys really get into shopping for the presents and boxing them up to send off. I’ve said before we can’t MAKE our kids care about charities or causes or the less fortunate, but the boys honestly get so excited about putting together gifts for kids who don’t get much – or  anything – for Christmas.

It may not be Christmas season right now, but OCC is never far from my mind. My dear friends Amanda and Jessica are fabulous advocates for OCC and recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to see first hand the impact the shoeboxes were making for children, for communities, for the Kingdom.

I’ve always wanted to do more to help with this amazing ministry, and then I found out about Team Samaritan’s Purse. It’s a way for me to do something I love – running – while supporting a cause I love – Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child!

Here’s how it works:

1. I run. 13.1 miles at the Fargo Half Marathon, to be exact.

2. People “sponsor” me to run through my fundraising page.

3. The sponsorship money all goes to support Operation Christmas Child!

I’ve always loved that many races use part of the entry fees to support a good cause, but this is a way I can take that one step further!

Now, I’d really love for you to join me in this by actually running with me, but I know that’s just living in a dream world, so can I ask you to join me in a few other ways?

1. Pray. Pray for Operation Christmas Child and all of the other ministries of Samaritan’s Purse. And pray for me as I’m training – to stay injury-free, get my lungs back in shape after a cold setback, and stay motivated!

2. Share. If you wouldn’t mind, I would love for you to share this with your friends and family and readers and anyone who might be interested in praying or donating! Tweet it, Facebook it, pin it – anything would be MUCH appreciated!

3. Donate. I’m believing for us to pull together $500 before race day, which is Saturday, May 18th! I really actually don’t like asking for money AT ALL, so it’s hard for me to come to you asking you to donate, but I just love Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child so much – they are worth stepping out of my comfort zone to ask you to consider donating ANYTHING at all to sponsor my run! I’m running 13.1 miles, so maybe you want to give $1.31. Or $13.10. Or $131.00!

There is a little widget in my sidebar over there to the right to click on over to the fundraising page OR you can just click here, especially if you’re reading this in your email or feed reader!

Thank you so much for any support you are able to provide and please let me know if you have any questions!

And if you are a runner and want to know more about Team Samaritan’s Purse, check out the video below and visit this page for more info!

{Click here if you can’t see the video!}

Any OCC fans out there? Let’s raise this $500 together!