LVs Running in Memphis

I have a confession to make. It's something I've been thinking about announcing for 2 months now, but I've been afraid. Afraid of saying something, of committing myself to a thing I might not be able to follow through on. But as I think more and more about this thing, I also prepare myself more and more for its eventuality. And so it is finally time for me to come out with it, to risk failure but strive for success. I am going to run the Memphis Marathon on December 4. It will be more than twice the longest distance I had ever before run, and that worried me when I signed up, but my long training runs have broken in the double digits, and I'm still alive and (mostly) healthy. So, hopefully I'll make it. There's been some stiffness and occasional pain in my right knee and both my ankles, but nothing debilitating by any means, and those have been my biggest problems so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and putting rubber on the road.

Having announced my plan to run the Memphis Marathon, I have to also tell you all that it would never have even occurred to me to do this if not for the fact that my whole program (the LVs) is involved. Of the 57 volunteers, almost all are running in one of the three races, either the full marathon, the half marathon, or the 5k. We are doing this in an effort to raise money for the program. Each person's goal, even those not running, is $1,000 for a total volunteer contribution of $57,000. For me to reach my goal, I need your help. There are just over 50 people on my "blog update" list, and if every one of those people donated just $20, my goal would be met. Can you help me do this? You know from my blog what I've been up to and who your donation ultimately serves, so if you consider my current endeavor worthwhile, I hope you will consider aiding the future of this program financially.

There are 2 WAYS TO MAKE A DONATION. The best for us is if you send a check to the main office in Washington D.C. The check needs to be made out to Christian Brothers Conference and needs "LV Marathon - Alex Branch" on the memo line. You can send the check to

Lasallian Volunteers
Hecker Center, Suite 300
3025 Fourth Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017

The second way to make a donation is via our online fundraising website, LVs Running in Memphis This is less preferred because the host company for the page takes a small cut from each online donation. Snail mail donations will also show up here, but don't lose the cut.

Many (though not all) of you will receive some snail mail from me regarding fundraising as well, so please be on the lookout for that.

Finally, there is one other interesting bit of news from the Volunteers. We have a new recruiting video, "I am an LV"! You can check it out on the LV website, HERE. It will introduce you to some of the other Volunteers serving around the United States and show you what else we're up to.

Peace.

Alex